After immigrating from Lebanon to Haiti as a young girl, Merjan comes of age in an insular, conservative community, where it seems as though her sole escape is marriage. Striking a bargain with a young art dealer, she marries and dreams of becoming a painter, only to discover her husband鈥檚 support tethered with expectations.
In the late 1970s, Merjan鈥檚 daughter Yvonne is a young woman on the cusp of a marriage of convenience. Though resentful of her mother, Yvonne dreams of establishing a Haitian art gallery in New York with the help of a well-connected older man鈥攂ut her time there ends disastrously, creating a deep rift between her and her family.
In the present day, Yvonne鈥檚 daughter Eva is a student whose art draws inspiration from her grandmother Merjan鈥檚 largely undiscovered work. When Eva becomes unexpectedly pregnant, she moves back to her childhood home in Miami to sort out her ambivalent feelings, where she finds her family upended by feuds. An intimate family saga, The Meaning of Daughter explores questions about maternal ambivalence, ambition, artmaking, and how desire resists gendered expectations.
鈥淎lexia Nader renders each of her three protagonists in unflinching, intimate prose that asks the reader to bear witness to their humanity, their desires, and their imperfections. I couldn鈥檛 put it down.鈥濃擭aomi Krupitsky, New York Times bestselling author, The Family
鈥淭elling the story of three generations, Nader鈥檚 debut novel does the important work of exploring the ways in which immigration and family intersect and conflict. These are powerful female characters who must fight for their personhood and their art. A beautiful work by a talented new voice in world literature.鈥濃擭ayomi Munaweera, author, What Lies Between Us
鈥The Meaning of Daughter is a beautiful contribution to the literature of our time. What Alexia Nader has done with these generations, these women in conversation with ego and passion, art and exile, self and family, is nothing short of transcendent. This is a book that sews the world together鈥擫ebanon, Haiti, New York, Florida鈥攚ith the thread of female want.鈥濃擫aleh Khadivi, author, A Good Country
鈥淪panning generations, this moving and riveting novel explores the power of art, the complicated bonds between mother and child, and the legacies that haunt us.鈥濃擝eth Nguyen, author, Owner of a Lonely Heart: A Memoir of Motherhood and Absence
鈥泪苍 The Meaning of Daughter, Alexia Nader has spun a masterpiece depicting a multigenerational matriarchy. Reaching across silences and negative space, the daughter, mother, and grandmother of Nader鈥檚 breathtaking debut each contend with the tension between the lives they desire and the lives they are expected to pursue. Fueled by artistic ambition, filial obligation, and unbridled passion, The Meaning of Daughter is a compassionate exploration of love without possession.鈥濃擬egan Kamalei Kakimoto, author, Every Drop Is a Man's Nightmare
