“Ashley, your father is coming home. I cannot promise you when that will be, but I can give you my word that I am coming.” With those words, in a letter at once sad and hopeful, Ashley C. Ford is SOMEBODY’S DAUGHTER. Her memoir tells us the tale of how this simple fact, that her father is in jail, puts a completely new spin on growing up with a single parent.

Ashley is, by some means, lucky. A close relationship with her grandmother helps to bring more peace and stability to her single-mother household. Her mother works hard and provides for her and her siblings with a ferocity matched only by the mood swings she suffers throughout Ashley’s childhood. Ashley is a smart child who enjoys reading and loves her younger brother. As more children join the household, she has to deal with their fathers as she attempts to come to terms with her missing dad. At one point, during a party that her social butterfly mom throws, Ashley encounters a presence who changes her life forever. And later, when she finally learns the real reason why her father is incarcerated, her world completely turns upside down.

"James Joyce wrote that 'love loves love,' and perhaps this is the message that the brave and confident writer who is Ashley Ford can offer all of us with SOMEBODY’S DAUGHTER. Her rise to self-sufficient star writer is a bountiful and beautiful tale."

Black, queer, smart and beautiful, Ashley’s teenage years are full of growth and the opportunity to steer herself in the direction of college and a bigger life than her childhood in Indiana and Missouri may have originally presented to her. Love and confidence are mainstays, anchored by both the stubborn presence of her mother in her life and the encouraging and loving support of her grandmother. As the book moves into Ashley’s later years, her father begins to play a bigger role; with it, her storytelling takes on a whole new language.

The stigma of incarceration is illuminated in SOMEBODY’S DAUGHTER in a very poignant way, as we see how few members of her extended family are able to tell her the truth. They offer her love, companionship, encouragement and laughs, but no one except her grandmother can tell her the truth about her father’s imprisonment. The book is centered solely on the relationships of a family that changes and expands throughout her childhood and the ways in which her love for her siblings helps to ground Ashley during the most difficult times with her mother. Friends and teachers also come through to help her move out into the bigger world and attend college, but that comes with its own hardships. For every good thing that Ashley experiences, there is always the specter of difficulty.

It is upsetting to see that Ashley receives no psychological help for the challenges she has faced. However, it is a fascinating reveal to see how, although occasionally divided, family still wins out and is both punishment and prize. Her prose feels like a conversation, and readers are drawn into the private tale easily. I read this book in one sitting --- and then read it again --- because it carries a message of love, hope and self-care that will be a salve for everyone during this difficult time.

James Joyce wrote that “love loves love,” and perhaps this is the message that the brave and confident writer who is Ashley Ford can offer all of us with SOMEBODY’S DAUGHTER. Her rise to self-sufficient star writer is a bountiful and beautiful tale.