Synopses & Reviews
A daughter of the Black Panther movement tells her remarkable life story of being raised amid violence and near-poverty, adopted as a teenager by Jane Fonda, and finding her way back home.
As she grew up in 1970s Oakland, California, role models for Mary Williams were few and far between: her father was often in prison, her older sister was a teenage prostitute, and her hot-tempered mother struggled to raise six children alone. When Mary was thirteen, a silver lining appeared in her life: she was invited to spend a summer at Laurel Springs Children's Camp, run by Jane Fonda and her then husband, Tom Hayden. Mary flourished at camp, and over the course of several summers, she began confiding in Fonda about her difficulties at home. During one school year, Mary suffered a nightmare assault crime, which she kept secret until she told a camp counselor and Fonda. After providing care and therapy for Mary, Fonda invited her to come live with her family.
Practically overnight, Mary left the streets of Oakland for the star-studded climes of Santa Monica. Jane Fonda was the parent Mary had never had outside the limelight and Hollywood parties, Fonda was a wonderful mom who helped with homework, listened to adolescent fears, celebrated achievements, and offered inspiration and encouragement at every turn.
Mary's life since has been one of adventure and opportunity from hiking the Appalachian Trail solo, working with the Lost Boys of Sudan, and living in the frozen reaches of Antarctica. Her most courageous trip, though, involved returning to Oakland and reconnecting with her biological mother and family, many of whom she hadn't seen since the day she left home. The Lost Daughter is a chronicle of her journey back in time, an exploration of fractured family bonds, and a moving epic of self-discovery.
Review
"The Lost Daughter is an extraordinary memoir. In fact, this is exactly the kind of story for which memoir was born. Mary Williams has lived more lives than a dozen other women combined. Some of those lives have been brutal and others have been blessed, but she regards every aspect of her remarkable journey with the same sense of clarity, honesty, compassion, and (in delightful outbursts) vivacious wit. I marvel at this book, at this life, at this unforgettable account of a mighty and uncrushable human being." Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love and Committed
Review
“I love the way Mary Williams tells her story, The Lost Daughter, of living in and between two worlds — upheavals and miracles, deprivations, and opportunities. A world of mothers lost and found again. It is ultimately a story about acceptance and forgiveness and gratitude, told with the deepest compassion, honesty and, ultimately, love.” Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues
Review
“A tender memoir of love and redemption. Born during the civil rights movement to Black Panther Party parents, Williams grew up in a tough neighborhood of Oakland, Calif., [until] actress and activist Jane Fonda stepped in and gave the bright 16-year-old girl a new life. And for 30 years, Williams avoided looking backward to her birth mother and rough beginnings....In heartwarming prose, the author explains how she eventually reunited with her siblings, their children and finally her birth mother. A compassionate tale of soul-searching and family love.” Kirkus
Review
“Williams attempts to reconcile her two disparate families and lives form the heart of her conversational narrative of a life changed by what looks like chance....A fascinating picture of Jane Fonda in a maternal role emerges but equally intriguing is Williams's description of life as a small child living in the close-knit Black Panther community. Williams will remind readers that tensions ran high in the 1970s and that sometimes the collateral damage was human life.” Library Journal
Review
“It is rare that a person has the opportunity to observe life from such disparate vantages as Mary Williams has occupied. It is perhaps more rare still that she would come to possess the self-awareness and desire to explore those observations in a searching and serious memoir. But that is Williams' achievement in The Lost Daughter, her improbable account of leaving impoverished East Oakland for a life of privilege with the actress and activist Jane Fonda...a fairy tale of a bildungsroman that charts the course of Mary's remarkable opportunity and self-actualization.” San Francisco Chronicle
Review
“[A] remarkable story...Williams offers a nuanced portrait of her two families....Her's is a book of sorrow and redemption, of seeing the gulf between families and the reconciliation that too often fails and sometimes succeeds....There are fascinating insights into the Fonda clan as well.” The Toronto Star
Synopsis
An extraordinary memoir about an unconventional life: born to militant Black Panthers and adopted by Jane Fonda, Mary Williams spent three decades traveling around the world before she was ready to embark on her final journey home.
Synopsis
Mary Williams was born to Black Panther parents and grew up in Oakland, California, in the 70s — a vivid childhood during a time of immense political and cultural upheaval, though hardly idyllic. Her father was often absent or in prison, an older sister succumbed to prostitution and teenage pregnancy, and her mother struggled with alcoholism. For all she knew, Mary was headed down the same path.
But all of that changed when she met Jane Fonda at a summer camp run by Fonda and her husband Tom Hayden in 1978. Jane took notice of the bright young girl, and invited Mary to come and live with her — and overnight, at age thirteen, Mary left impoverished Oakland for star-studded Santa Monica. Jane was the mother she’d never had: one who imposed curfews and bedtimes, helped with homework, and insisted on family dinners every night. With her adoptive mother’s encouragement, Mary spent the next three decades traveling the world: she worked with the Lost Boys of the Sudan, hiked the Appalachian Trail (solo), and spent months living in Antarctica. But her greatest adventure has been the trip back home, to reconnect with her biological family — from Oakland to Hollywood to Africa with many stops along the way, The Lost Daughter is the story of one woman’s remarkable homecoming.
About the Author
Mary Williamsandrsquo; work has appeared in The Believer, McSweeneys and O, The Oprah Magazine. She is also the author of the childrens book Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan. She lives in the South West.