American Daughter

Summary

"Gut-wrenching and absorbing...in the vein of Educated and The Glass Castle" (Booklist) "A story of redemption and forgiveness" (New York Times Book Review) "Impressive...Readers will find themselves recalibrating their judgments about villains and victims" (BookPage, starred review) "Vital" (Library Journal) "Staggeringly candid" (Shelf Awareness) The sharp and surprising true story of a woman who finally sets out to understand her past, and the abusive mother she hoped to forget. Full of unexpected twists and unbelievable revelations, American Daughter is an immersive experience that will have you on the edge of your seat to the very last word. For 50 years, Stephanie Plymale kept her past a fiercely guarded secret. No one outside her immediate family would have guessed that her childhood was fraught with every imaginable hardship: a mentally ill mother who was in and out of jails and psych wards throughout Stephanie's formative years, neglect, hunger, poverty, homelessness, truancy, foster homes, a harrowing lack of medical care, and worse. Stephanie, in turn, knew very little about the past of her mother, from whom she remained estranged during most of her adult life. All this changed with a phone call that set a journey of discovery in motion, leading to a series of shocking revelations that forced Stephanie to revise the meaning of almost every aspect of her very compromised childhood. American Daughter is at once the deeply moving account of a troubled mother-daughter relationship and a meditation on resilience, transcendence, and ultimately, redemption. 

©2021 Stephanie Thornton Plymale (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers