In her debut book, Bernadette Jeudy navigates us through her life from a five-year-old girl in Haiti living with her grandmother, to the pivotal point where her life changed after her Nana died. She and her siblings joined their mother and eventually migrated to New York to experience a new life. We follow her there where we see her struggles of identity in a new culture, her dashed hopes as a teenager, and the intimate moments of her dating chronicles as an adult. Jeudy candidly and vividly shares the defining moments of life that clipped her impressionable days as a child, the unspoken pain that hung over her household like a dark cloud and the pursuit of love that she sought as a young adult - a love that often came packaged in unfulfilled relationships.
Every strong woman has a breaking point. At some point women realize that their life is going to be quite different than how they imagined life would be. Tested Innocence is a story of that woman. It is a transparent and beautifully written memoir of a young Haitian immigrant who adapts to an ever-changing narrative. The complexities of family dynamics. The heartbreak and hardships of relationships. It's about overcoming disappointments, putting your subconscious thoughts in check and finally finding joy and success. You'll laugh, cry and give Jeudy a high-five for shedding light on the dark moments that so many women experience.