American Daughter: A Memoir - Paperback

by Stephanie Thornton Plymale (Author), Elissa Wald (Author)

The sharp and surprising true story of a woman who finally sets out to understand her past, and the mother she had one day hoped to forget. Full of unexpected twists and unbelievable revelations, American Daughter is an immersive memoir that will have you on the edge of your seat to the very last page.

For years, Stephanie Plymale, successful CEO and interior designer, kept
her past a fiercely guarded secret. Only her husband knew that her
childhood was fraught with every imaginable hardship: 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, who
was in and out of jails and psych wards for most of Stephanie's formative
years. All this changed when a series of shocking revelations forced Stephanie
to revisit her tortured past and revise the meaning of every aspect of her
compromised childhood.

American Daughter is
the extraordinary true story of a young girl growing up on the wrong side of
the American Dream. Stephanie has slept in blankets on the floor of crowded
apartments, lived in the back seat of a car with her siblings, and spent
decades looking over her shoulder at a mother who might just as easily hug or
harm her. American Daughter is at once a moving account of a troubled
mother-daughter relationship and a meditation on resilience, transcendence, and
ultimately, redemption.