Dr. Beare's Daughter

November 4, 2024
Jones, adopted as an infant by wealthy parents in a small Midwestern town in 1947, spotlights a life lived under her father’s shadow in this emotive memoir. Her earliest memories are of her mother reading “The Book”—a story of orphans at “the Home” being adopted by a married couple—while Jones tries to make sense of what it means to be “chosen.” She reflects on feeling out of place all too often, in her father’s way with constant questions, and forced to entertain herself, given her socialite mother’s busy schedule.
Jones’s constant sense of not measuring up to her father—an influential doctor in their tight-knit community—colors her confidence from a young age: “being Doctor Beare’s Daughter is better than being just Janice,” she reassures her younger self. A lack of siblings and friends widens those feelings of isolation, and her childhood musings—whether about fishing trips with her father, school days, or simple family dinners—continually reflect her efforts to make sense of her place in this golden family. As she grows, Jones’s voice morphs from that of an innocent, credulous child to young adulthood, mirroring her rising awareness of the need to break away from her parents’ world to form her own.
Jones supplements the narrative with childhood pictures that anchor the memoir’s events, allowing whispers of nostalgia to invade the stark portrayal of her early days. Many of her early experiences are punctuated by her father’s temper and angry words, hurled at Jones and her mother in accusations of their ignorance—sections that are painful to read but balanced by Jones’s sweet relationship with her grandfather. As she grows into an adult, and has children of her own, Jones contemplates the pieces of her family she still carries with her, and, in a heart wrenching ending, learns, finally, that she is her own person—and that is enough.
Takeaway: Moving story of an adopted daughter’s search for her own voice.
Comparable Titles: J.R. Ackerley’s My Father and Myself, Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A