Both Sides of Then

When a young girl discovers her parent's painful life secrets her sense of self unravels, eliciting a long path to healing, acceptance, and love. Jennifer is thirteen and living a quiet teenage existence when her parents reveal their innermost secrets; her mother has found the child she relinquished as a baby, and her father no longer wants to be part of the family. As Jennifer's young life unravels, she begins to self-destruct. Anna, Jennifer's mother, is deeply affected by losing her parents at a young age and by her subsequent strict upbringing in a Baptist orphanage. Thrust into a changing world ill-prepared, she finds herself pregnant and unwed during a time when society shunned these young mothers. Both Sides of Then is the story of a mother and daughter's search for agency. Jennifer shares her difficult path to self-acceptance while piecing together her mother's young life using vignettes shared throughout her childhood. By writing from her mother's perspective, would Jennifer eventually understand her mother? Would she see her own life more clearly? A coming-of-age book and in-depth exploration of family frailty and resilience, Both Sides of Then is a daring take on the power of the female voice, even after it's been silenced.

Jennifer Griffith hosts the popular About Your Mother podcast and holds a degree in English from Washington State University. She has studied writing with notable authors for years, including at the University of Washington, UC Berkeley, and Stanford. Her lived experience with generational trauma, familial secrets, and the hidden history of adoption is the inspiration for her work. In her writing and on her podcast, she focuses on honoring the complexities of motherhood, family, and the unique experiences that shape our lives.