George's Daughter - Carol Becker

A complex story of contradiction, disillusion and love, George's Daughter is a memoir/essay about a daughter's attempt to live in accordance with her own values, in spite of conflicts with her controlling father whom she nonetheless adores. Ultimately, her defiance of him--by refusing to end a romantic relationship of which he does not approve--leads to emotionally catastrophic consequences for them both. These themes will resonate with anyone whose family has come undone when a member refuses to adhere to conventional expectations, whether around gender, race, class, religion, politics or culture.

The story originates in the neighborhood of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, after World War II. During the author's childhood, Crown Heights was reeling from the traumas of displaced persons, survivors of the Nazi concentration camps, and those who had lost entire families to the war. Decades later, the neighborhood was again traumatized by tensions, discriminations, and disruptions caused by opposing racial and religious politics that continue to this day.

George's Daughter illuminates how the decision to live one's life, as one must, may cause enormous psychic rupture: A person might lose, but ultimately find again, both their family and their sense of self in the process.