The Lost Daughter

May 20, 2013
Born in Oakland, CA in 1967 to parents active in the Black Panther party, Williams spent her early childhood in Panther community, attending Panther-run schools. With her father in and out of prison, her mother left the Party, her older sister became a crack addict, and life took a decided downturn. Un-til, that is, Mary's uncleâfriends with Jane Fonda and Tom Haydenâintervened. As Williams re-members it, Fonda "threw me a lifeline and I grabbed it." Williams moved into the Fonda-Hayden household attempting to assimilate into a new class existence. Her tumultuous life shuffled her be-tween new-found privilege and occasional returns to "the underworld" of an Oakland life she had out-grown. After graduating from Pitzer College, Williams teaches English in Morocco, works for the CDC in Atlanta, and travels to Tanzania. Upon her return she starts the Lost Boys Foundation, funded by the Fonda Family Foundation, before disbanding it in turmoil. Williams remains unfulfilled until she finally realizes that her desire to help others was her "misdirected desire to save ." Though she can be a difficult and occasionally unsympathetic figure, throughout Williams exposes American class and race tensions, having experienced both the luxury of white privilege and the bleakness of ur-ban poverty.

March 15, 2013
A tender memoir of love and redemption. Born during the civil rights movement to Black Panther Party parents, Williams (Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan, 2005) grew up in a tough neighborhood of Oakland, Calif., where "the world was caught up in a swirling storm of violence, revolutionary zeal, sexual freedom, and creative expression." Her father was in and out of prison, her mother struggled with alcoholism, and her older sister became a prostitute, so when Williams was raped, she felt it was almost destiny, that she "had been subtly groomed to be a victim all [her] life. . .I believe I experienced a feeling almost of relief, that this unavoidable event had finally caught up with me." Then 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. She worked in Morocco, Tanzania, Antarctica and Alaska. She hiked the Appalachian Trail and mingled on movie sets with Fonda's co-workers. And yet, she never felt quite at peace, as she was still full of repressed anger over the neglect and abuse she received as a child. She struggled "to keep the beast caged" and writes of her feelings in her 40s, "I was an emotional chimera of a two-year-old and a sulking teenager, extremely sensitive to even the most benign criticism or perceived insult." Her anger went outward toward everyone, including Fonda, who had provided so much for Williams. However, Williams' anger could only last so long before she realized she needed to change. 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.

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April 1, 2013
Williams was a child of Black Pantherera Oakland, with its countercultural challenges to the racial status quo. Her father was a Panther who served time in prison, her mother eventually succumbed to drinking and withdrew from family life, and her sister died a violent death. Traumatized by poverty and neglect at 16, Williams took the opportunity to flee to Santa Monica to live with Jane Fonda, whom she'd known for several years through a summer arts camp. What followed was an extraordinary life of wealth and privilege as she was incorporated into the lives and families of Jane Fonda and Ted Turner. An adventurer and idealist, Williams went on to travel to Africa, start a foundation to benefit the Lost Boys of Sudan, hike the Appalachian Trail, and work for six months in Antarctica, all the while testing herself. But her greatest challenge awaited her back in Oakland. Could she ever reconcile with her biological family and somehow blend them into her eclectic life? Williams' memoir explores both broad social dichotomies and the longing for the closeness of family ties.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)