DADDY'S HOUSE

A renowned speaker, coach, and podcaster recounts her rocky path to success.

Raised in a religious family on a cotton farm in Alabama in a small cinder-block house with maggot-infested mattresses and air that reeked of baby pee, Mills faced many hardships as a child and young adult. Because she was dependable and trustworthy, her parents relied on her at a young age to cook, clean, pick cotton in the fields, and babysit her siblings, even in the middle of the night, while her mother raised 17 children. She sets an immersive scene: “Pea gravel crackled, and a cloud of red dust chased us like a whirlwind when Daddy swung the Chevy into the churchyard and parked in his spot under a large oak tree.” Her father, respected in the community, ran a successful farm and was a leader at their local church. When home, however, he was extremely abusive, and frequently beat his wife and children. Mills learned to always keep a watchful eye on him: “I was a girl-in-training, studying the ways of deceitful and abusive men like Daddy.” As she grew older, she dreamed of leaving the house forever, which she eventually did, even while facing hardships as a single Black mother in the 1970s. After moving through the ranks at her Frigidaire job, she worked to purchase her own home a year after the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1975. Throughout her adult years, she worked diligently, earning prestigious positions such as director of product development, and eventually repaired her relationship with her mother. Mills’ prose is evocative and memorable throughout, and she delicately balances her spectrum of feelings for her father, especially as she describes repairing her relationship with him at the end of his life. The memoir, full of authentic recollections of navigating family challenges and tragedies, may inspire those who’ve weathered similar ups and downs.

Inspirational, awful, and beautiful all at once.