When I Was Her Daughter
When I Was Her Daughter by Leslie Ferguson is a poignant narrative nonfiction work published by Acorn Publishing on November 12, 2021. This 320-page memoir recounts the harrowing experiences of a young girl navigating a tumultuous childhood marked by her mother’s paranoid schizophrenia and the challenges of a broken child welfare system in 1980s Los Angeles. The story unfolds as seven-year-old Leslie grapples with the fear instilled by her mother’s delusions, which lead them to live in constant flight from imagined threats.
Readers will find a raw exploration of survival, family dynamics, and the psychological impact of mental illness. As Leslie faces the realities of foster care and the longing for maternal love, the narrative delves into themes of resilience and the quest for belonging. The book highlights the complexities of familial relationships and the struggle for understanding amidst chaos, ultimately portraying a journey toward hope and redemption.
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Awards:
2023 Readers’ Favorite International Book Awards Gold Medal Winner Non-Fiction – Memoir
2023 Outstanding Creator Awards (Winter) Third-Place Winner Best Non-Fiction Book
2023 Outstanding Creator Awards (Winter) First-Place Winner in Family
2023 Outstanding Creator Awards (Winter) Second-Place Winner in Autobiographies and Memoirs
2023 Outstanding Creator Awards (Winter) Third-Place Winner in Women’s Non-Fiction & Women’s Issues
2023 Outstanding Creator Awards (Winter) Third-Place Winner in Motivational / Inspirational
2023 PenCraft Awards Seasonal Winner (Winter 2023) in Memoir
2022 Memoir Prize for Books Winner in Resilience
2022 Firebird Book Awards First-Place Winner in Parenting and Family
2022 Firebird Book Awards First-Place Winner in Coming of Age
2022 Firebird Book Awards First-Place Winner in Psychiatry/Psychology
Summary:
This award-winning work of narrative nonfiction is a raw and haunting account of one girl’s journey through madness, loss, and a broken child welfare system in Los Angeles in the 1980s.
Seven-year-old Leslie has a serious problem. Someone is trying to kill her.
Her mother Roberta suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, and she writes rambling manifestos and forces her children to live on the run to evade capture by the Russian spies she believes are after them.
With every psychotic break, Leslie and her younger brother face terrifying circumstances despite the fact that Roberta’s only wish is to protect them. Who will help them when she is convinced that killing them will save them from a worse fate?
When separated from her family and thrust into foster care for the foreseeable future, Leslie navigates a new kind of fear and loneliness. All she wants is to be loved, but how can her mother ever love her when she is so far away? How can she love her now that Leslie has betrayed her in so many ways? Will Leslie ever see her again?
Ultimately, Leslie remains at the mercy of the adults in her life who can effect change, and she wonders if she will ever find a safe place to land. Nobody will talk about her mother’s mental illness, and nothing seems to be able to fix her dysfunctional family. But her sixth-grade teacher gives her hope every day, so Leslie pretends she is-and always has been-her daughter.
An unbelievable true story of grit and heart, When I Was Her Daughter is, at its core, a tale about how the redemptive power of patience and courage leads to unconditional love for a lost and angry child desperate to understand where she belongs.
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