Jennifer is thirteen and living a quiet teenage existence when her parents reveal their innermost secrets; her mother has found the child she relinquished as a baby, and her father no longer wants to be part of the family. As Jennifer's young life unravels, she begins to self-destruct.
Anna, Jennifer's mother, is deeply affected by losing her parents at a young age and by her subsequent strict upbringing in a Baptist orphanage. Thrust into a changing world ill-prepared, she finds herself pregnant and unwed during a time when society shunned these young mothers.
Both Sides of Then is the story of a mother and daughter's search for agency. Jennifer shares her difficult path to self-acceptance while piecing together her mother's young life using vignettes shared throughout her childhood. By writing from her mother's perspective, would Jennifer eventually understand her mother? Would she see her own life more clearly?
A coming-of-age book and in-depth exploration of family frailty and resilience, Both Sides of Then is a daring take on the power of the female voice, even after it's been silenced.