“Frank and funny
and powerful and surprising. An utterly gorgeous debut.”-Lauren
Groff
One of the most
anticipated books of 2019--Electric Literature, Entertainment Weekly,
Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, The Millions, Hyphen, Lit Hub, Nylon, The
AV Club, The Advocate, The Rumpus, The Week, Books are Magic, Reading
Women, Alma
Acclaimed literary
essayist T Kira Madden's raw and redemptive debut memoir is about
coming of age and reckoning with desire as a queer, biracial teenager
amidst the fierce contradictions of Boca Raton, Florida, a place
where she found cult-like privilege, shocking racial disparities,
rampant white-collar crime, and powerfully destructive standards of
beauty hiding in plain sight.
As a child, Madden
lived a life of extravagance, from her exclusive private school to
her equestrian trophies and designer shoe-brand name. But under the
surface was a wild instability. The only child of parents continually
battling drug and alcohol addictions, Madden confronted her
environment alone. Facing a culture of assault and objectification,
she found lifelines in the desperately loving friendships of
fatherless girls.
With unflinching
honesty and lyrical prose, spanning from 1960s Hawai'i to the
present-day struggle of a young woman mourning the loss of a father
while unearthing truths that reframe her reality, Long Live the Tribe
of Fatherless Girls is equal parts eulogy and love letter. It's a
story about trauma and forgiveness, about families of blood and
affinity, both lost and found, unmade and rebuilt, crooked and
beautiful.
