Kerry Washington’s memoir is a candid journey through her life, where she opens up about her upbringing and the challenges she faced due to family secrets. While much of the book focuses on her childhood, her adult years receive less focus. Despite this, it’s fascinating to learn about how she honed her craft and chooses her projects. 

I picked this up upon learning that Kerry Washington, like me, learned as an adult that she was donor-conceived. It is a memoir that is not about that and completely focused on it—what is helpful to another writer is how she reflects on and illustrates a rippling sense of unease and tension she has felt throughout her life but never understood. The construction and choices she makes are informative and helpful in understanding craft choices, though I feel a super fan of her acting would appreciate the in between a lot more.