“At last, we grasp the long-lasting effects of father absence through the voices of confident and powerful teen girls,” writes girls and women advocate Ana Acevedo in the preface of “Discovering Me…Without You: Teen Girls Speak About Father Absence.”
 
In this groundbreaking book, published by Esther Productions Inc. Books, two dozen girls ages 14 through 17 tell their personal stories about the impact of father absence on their lives. Some never met their fathers. Others met them only briefly, leaving an unpleasant experience forever locked in their memories. Still others had relationships with their fathers, but they faded because their fathers were not quite ready for the responsibilities of parenting. In some cases, their fathers were deported or sent off to jail somewhere never to return.
 
“The essays [in the book], filled with sadness, confusion, anger and longing—always longing—gave me a sense of déjà vu. I had been where the essay writers were. I had experienced similar pain and anxiety born of father absence,” writes jonetta rose barras, author of bestselling book Whatever Happened to Daddy’s Little Girl? The Impact of Fatherlessness on Black Women”