Nobody's Child: A Biography

by Tammie Francisque

Nobody’s A Biography is an urban drama. It takes place in the Brooklyn, Queens & Harlem sections of New York City, from the beginning of the Second Great Migration to the present day. It is a family drama rooted in the life experiences of a mother, my mother Brenda. It’s about overcoming drug addiction, complicated black family dynamics, surviving domestic violence, and the healing of family trauma. It’s about choices parents make and how those choices affect their children and everyone else around them. And, It’s also about secrets kept and the far-reaching, dysfunctional affects those secrets have on families. Finally, it’s about LOVE. Love between mothers and daughters, mothers and sons, love between women, sisters and friends, husbands and wives and fathers and their daughters.One thing is certain… no life is perfect. This story is about imperfect lives, the ones lived by my family, mainly my mother – a most beautiful, God-fearing soul.

201 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 27, 2020

Reviews

[Las Las · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this beautifully written biography by Tammie Francisque about her mother Brenda’s struggles and redemption. Though Nobody’s Child chronicles Brenda’s hellish journey, it does not present Brenda as a victim. As I read about Brenda’s life, I came to see her for her resilience and illuminating spirit, even in her darkest times. The multi-generational trauma that threaded through Brenda’s life included experiences meant to break and ultimately destroy her and those around her. However, by God’s grace and through therapy, Brenda was able to overcome unfathomable trials in her life. Francisque gives us a personal and in-depth point of view of her mother’s story, never sugar coating or glossing over the harsh realities of life’s difficult experiences like teenage motherhood, substance abuse, domestic violence and sexual abuse. Francisque’s account of Brenda’s odyssey is a necessary story of fortitude that can be used to encourage and support someone who has experienced or is currently experiencing any of the hardships Brenda faced and subsequently defeated.