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In celebration of Independent Bookstore Day, shop our limited-time sale on bestselling audiobooks from April 22nd-28th. Don’t miss out—purchases support your local bookstore!
Shop nowThe Many Daughters of Afong Moy
A Novel
Length
13 hours 28 minutes
Language
English
Narrators
Jennifer Lim, Cindy Kay, Mirai, Natalie Naudus, Sura Siu, Emily Woo Zeller, Nancy Wu & Jamie Ford
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreBookseller recommendation
“Besides the excellent historical research Ford incorporates, what makes this book unusual is Ford's compassion for his characters, from Dorothy Moy back through her ancestry. As Dorothy reaches back through generations, finding life-changing events that turn out to be echoes of even earlier events, she begins to realize that along with the heartbreak, there was always someone offering solace, too. Moments of kindness and connection can add up to change, too. And children, like Dorothy's daughter, already struggling with haunting dreams, hold the potential to bring new understanding to old grief. From his sensitive portrayal of mental illness to his unflinching truths about injustice, Ford teaches us this alchemy in this moving novel. We finish the book feeling all the hope and possibility that new beginnings bring, not burdened, but enriched by the sorrows we can still work to overcome.”
— Nialle • The Haunted Bookshop
Bookseller recommendation
“An enthralling historical novel that comes alive through the voices of seven masterful actresses, each voicing a woman from a different generation. Based on the true story of the first Chinese woman to come to the US, Afong Moy’s devastating and traumatic experiences are passed down to her relatives, trickling through the family tree like poison.”
— Diane • Bards Alley
Bookseller recommendation
“Jamie Ford explores the relationship of mind, spirit, and personal history in this gorgeous, multigenerational novel. The descendants of Afong Moy dig into their inherited pasts with astonishing results. A hopeful, beautiful read!”
— Beth Mynhier • Lake Forest Book Store
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick
The New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet returns with a powerful exploration of the love that binds a family across the generations in “one of the most beautiful books of motherhood and what we pass on to those that come after us” (Jenna Bush Hager, Today).
Dorothy Moy breaks her own heart for a living.
As Washington’s former poet laureate, that’s how she describes channeling her dissociative episodes and mental health struggles into her art. But when her five-year-old daughter exhibits similar behavior and begins remembering things from the lives of their ancestors, Dorothy believes the past has come to haunt her. Fearing that her child is predestined to endure the same debilitating depression that has marked her own life, Dorothy seeks radical help.
Through an experimental treatment designed to mitigate inherited trauma, Dorothy intimately connects with past generations of women in her family: 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.
As the painful recollections affect her present life, Dorothy discovers that trauma isn’t the only thing she’s inherited. A stranger is searching for her in each time period—a stranger who’s loved her through all of her genetic memories. Can Dorothy break the cycle of pain and abandonment to finally find peace for her daughter and love for herself? Or will she end up paying the ultimate price?
“For Jamie Ford fans both old and new, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy is an unmitigated pleasure” (Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author) and a lyrical love story unlike any other.
Jamie Ford is the great-grandson of Nevada mining pioneer Min Chung, who emigrated from Hoiping, China, to San Francisco in 1865, where he adopted the western name Ford, thus confusing countless generations. His debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, spent two years on the New York Times bestseller list and went on to win the 2010 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. His work has been translated into thirty-five languages. Having grown up in Seattle, he now lives in Montana with his wife and a one-eyed pug.
Jamie Ford is the great-grandson of Nevada mining pioneer Min Chung, who emigrated from Hoiping, China, to San Francisco in 1865, where he adopted the western name Ford, thus confusing countless generations. His debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, spent two years on the New York Times bestseller list and went on to win the 2010 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. His work has been translated into thirty-five languages. Having grown up in Seattle, he now lives in Montana with his wife and a one-eyed pug.
