Overcoming Childhood Sexual Assault: Survivors' Stories

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Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford

Somebody's Daughter

A Memoir

by Ashley C. Ford
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  • Critics' Consensus (10):
  • First Published:
  • Jun 1, 2021, 224 pages
  • Paperback:
  • May 2022, 224 pages
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About This Book

Overcoming Childhood Sexual Assault: Survivors' Stories

This article relates to Somebody's Daughter

Print Review

In her debut memoir, Ashley C. Ford reflects on the lasting impact of her childhood, most notably the sexual assault she suffered at the age of 14. The process of dissecting trauma through literature is certainly not easy, but doing so can bring catharsis to writers and readers alike.

With assault affecting everyone differently, however, there is no one account that can encapsulate the full impact of this experience. While people of every race, gender, age, sexuality and religion fall victim to sexual assault, the following memoirs focus specifically on women who were assaulted during childhood, exploring the impact on their lives and their respective roads to recovery.

Tragically, it is estimated that a child in America falls victim to sexual abuse every nine minutes, but only 25 out of 1,000 perpetrators end up in prison. Though this is by no means a comprehensive list of those brave enough to share their pain, each one serves as a powerful reminder of the human lives behind these statistics.

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A classic of American literature and a seminal example of the form, Angelou's first memoir describes the struggles of her early childhood. This includes the deep-rooted racial prejudice of the American South, and a devastating experience of sexual abuse at the age of eight. The trauma of this event and its aftermath triggers a bout of muteness that lasts almost five years, but Angelou explains how love, kindness and literature help her to literally reclaim her voice: a voice that was destined to define her generation.

Filed under Reading Lists

This "beyond the book article" relates to Somebody's Daughter. It originally ran in June 2021 and has been updated for the May 2022 paperback edition. Go to magazine.

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