Firstborn Girls

Four Generations, One Extraordinary Story

By: Bernice L. McFadden

Brought to you by Penguin.

An astonishing, intimate and powerful memoir by the author of Richard and Judy Book Club pick Sugar

On her second birthday in 1967, Bernice McFadden died. She was in a car crash on the motorway turnoff to Detroit. For a few minutes, she was clinically dead. From the moment of her resuscitation, we follow a remarkable life, all the way up to the publication of her first novel, Sugar.

In 80s Brooklyn, growing up in terror of her alcoholic father, young Bernice loses herself in books, finding solace in summer trips to her aunt's home in Barbados and escaping to boarding school. But it’s not until she reads Alice Walker and Toni Morrison, stories about ‘messy, beautiful, joyful Black people’ so reminiscent of her loved ones, that she sees herself within their pages.

Bernice’s family story begins in Sandersville, Georgia, with freedwoman Louisa Vicey Wilson in 1870. Her descendants survived Reconstruction, Jim Crow, joined the ‘great migration’, cried when Dr King was assassinated during The Civil Rights Movement. Wisdom, secrets, and fierce love are passed down through generations of women like Lou’s handmade quilt.

Tracing her roots gives Bernice the strength to write her own story, liberating herself from generational trauma while honouring her ancestors. A memoir of many threads, First Born Girls is an extraordinarily moving account of a life shaped both by family history and a drive to be something more.

'Bernice McFadden’s riveting memoir cements her position as one of America’s most creative and necessary writers' SAPPHIRE

©2025 Bernice McFadden (P)2025 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

Firstborn Girls, Bernice McFadden’s riveting memoir, cements her position as one of America’s most creative and necessary writers. Like Toni Morrison who focused her lens specifically on the lives of Black people, and hence told a universal story, so too does McFadden. With Firstborn Girls she has produced a vital and stunningly gorgeous work, again (SAPPHIRE, author of Push)

Firstborn Girls does what Bernice McFadden does better than absolutely everybody, it takes you on a journey through the ages that makes you feel all of your feelings unabashedly. What makes it more special in her first non-fiction book is that it's her story, her real, lived experience that she has boldly invited us to journey alongside her. Her ability to tell a story makes it one of the most engrossing memoirs I have read in a long time and allows you to forget that it is the real life of a family with such a rich and interesting history. People will talk about these Firstborn Girls for years to come! (TARANA BURKE, activist and author of Unbound)

Remarkable… Firstborn Girls is an absolute treasure (DEESHA PHILYAW, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies)

Firstborn Girls is both a moving memoir and a powerful examination of race and gender in America. This book took me on a journey through pain and joy, revealing how these women’s lives intertwined and how history seemed to echo through each generation. There’s no sugar-coating here. These women’s lives are laid bare before us, warts and all—not to be judged, but to be admired for their strength and survival. Bernice L. McFadden has given us a significant work that demands our attention, respect, and, most importantly, our gratitude for her courage in telling her story (CAROLYNN BAIN, Afrori Books)