The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford

 

Publisher: Atria Books

Expected publication date: August 2nd 2022

Pages: 384

The book starts with the first main character of the book, Dorothy Moy. Dorothy lives in Seattle, Washington in the future,2048, during a time of crazy worldwide weather, and has many psychiatric problems, in her case dissociative episodes and depression. Things change when her five year old daughter is starting to show the same mental issues as her, and start to remember things from her ancestors. Dorothy's therapist learns her about  a brand new experimental therapy. With this therapy that treats generational trauma, Dorothy connects as in some kind of flashback with the women in her family that lived before her; : Faye Moy, a nurse in China serving with the Flying Tigers; Zoe Moy, a student in England at a famous school with no rules; Lai King Moy, a girl quarantined in San Francisco during a plague epidemic; Greta Moy, a tech executive with a unique dating app; and Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to set foot in America. In every story of the women in the past, someone is looking for Dorothy. A stranger who’s loved her through all of her genetic memories. Dorothy wants to make peace with the trauma of her ancestors and to find peace of mind for her daughter and herself. 

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy is an outstanding new book that takes the reader into different time periods with the different characters. The one I found the most moving was Afong Moy and Lai King Moy, as it takes the reader to historic days, and because of what happened to them was, very tragic. She experiences the yellow plague epidemic in San Francisco, houses are burned, family dies, and she is placed on a ship to escape, saying farewell to her mother who stays behind in the burning city. The story is not told in chronological order but instead we weave back and forth between pivotal times in each woman's lives.

It is a true jewell of a book, very different then anything I ever read but thats what makes it so special, recommended!!