Shadow Daughter cover art

Shadow Daughter

A Memoir of Estrangement

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Shadow Daughter

By: Harriet Brown
Narrated by: Harriet Brown
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About this listen

A riveting, provocative, and ultimately hopeful exploration of mother-daughter estrangement, woven with research and anecdotes, from an award-winning journalist.

The day of her mother's funeral, Harriet Brown was five thousand miles away. For years they'd gone through cycles of estrangement and connection, drastic blow-ups and equally dramatic reconciliations. By the time her mother died at seventy-six, they hadn't spoken at all in several years. Her mother's death sent Brown on a journey of exploration, one that considered guilt and trauma, rage and betrayal, and forgiveness.

Shadow Daughter tackles a subject we rarely discuss as a culture. Family estrangements -- between parents and children, siblings, multiple generations -- are surprisingly common, and even families that aren't officially estranged often have some experience of deep conflicts. Despite the fact that the issue touches most people one way or another, estrangement is still shrouded in secrecy, stigma, and shame. We simply don't talk about it, and that silence can make an already difficult situation even harder. Brown tells her story with clear-eyed honesty and hard-won wisdom; she also shared interviews with others who are estranged, as well as the most recent research on this taboo topic.

Ultimately, Shadow Daughter is a thoughtful, provocative, and deeply researched exploration of the ties that bind and break, forgiveness, reconciliation, and what family really means.
Dysfunctional Families Dysfunctional Relationships Motherhood Parenting & Families Parents & Adult Children Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Health Memoir Mental Health
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This book was so empowering and enlightening, it helped me come to peace with myself and all others.

Wonderful book

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Harriet has an amazing skill with words and descriptive speech. Never has anything I’ve ever read on family estrangement articulated the rawness I feel and put words to what I have not been able to describe as well as Shadow Daughter. I am that daughter. I now want to get a printed copy to keep.

Boom! Finally my feelings are articulated

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Exquisitely written from deep experience, this book offers reflections and validation to those on the same path. So helpful to me.

just what we need to hear

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.