1. How to find a way to live in peace: to actually love complicated parents without compromising our love for ourselves.

2. How we can’t change our past—and why Ashley says that forgiveness is accepting the fact that the past is never going to be different.

3. The importance of being able to hold two truths at the same time: that, for some of us, our parents did the best they could—and it wasn’t close to good enough.

4. Why Ashley says she struggles, even in adulthood, to accept love and care from people who are not obligated to love and care for her.

5. Why anger often reveals our passion points—and for Ashley, why that leads her to show up for children.

About Ashley: 

Ashley C. Ford’s New York Times best-selling memoir, Somebody’s Daughter, was published by Flatiron Books in June 2021. Ford is the former host of The Chronicles of Now podcast, co-host of The HBO companion podcast Lovecraft Country Radio. She currently lives in Indianapolis, Indiana with her husband, poet and fiction writer Kelly Stacy, and their chocolate lab Astro Renegade Ford-Stacy.

Ford has written or guest-edited for ELLE Magazine, Slate, Teen Vogue, New York Magazine, The New York Times, Domino, Cup of Jo, and various other web and print publications.

Book: Somebody’s Daughter

Instagram: @smashfizzle

Twitter: @iSmashFizzle