Daddy's Little Stranger
Riddle Brook (2024)
​Devastated by sudden disconnection from the man she knew as her father, and the rejection from her birth father that followed, a young Acamea finds herself on a lonesome path disturbed by the chaos of mental illness, poverty, and violence.
Acamea tells her story set against the backdrop of Gary, Indiana—a city deemed "the murder capital of the nation." Here she wrestles with the complexities of human connection as she grows into a woman. Feeling trapped between the worlds of love and obligation, she attempts to set herself free.
Daddy's Little Stranger is a profound exploration of longing and the resolve to build something sustainable from a fractured childhood.
Praise for Daddy's Little Stranger
"Memoirs that chronicle the lasting impacts of neglect and the quest to fill the void left by an unstable parental attachment are familiar. Deadwiler's work, however, displays bravery, conviction, and arresting prose that uplifts the narrative and will have readers rooting for the author on every single page."
—The BookLife Prize
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"From the opening heartbreaking chapter to its final poignant pages, Acamea Deadwiler's Daddy's Little Stranger artfully demonstrates a simple but often overlooked fact: memoir never simply reproduces the past. Rather, it brings the past to life by exploring our relationship to memory itself. Her own earliest memories are marked by formative experiences with a troubled mother's "nervous breakdown," haunted by a parade of father figures, among them her absent biological father, Champ, who hovers like a specter throughout her life. Daddy's Little Stranger does not follow the familiar, triumphal storyline of overcoming difficult circumstances by refusing to be broken by them. Through masterful prose, keen observation, and vulnerable self-reflection, Deadwiler finds narrative balance, reconciling the pain of her childhood and offering the reader the greatest gift that art has to offer: wisdom."
—Jeremy Schraffenberger, Editor, North American Review
"Daddy's Little Stranger is a piercing and powerful exploration of an emotional landscape shaped by a father's absence. Acamea Deadwiler's page-turner memoir grapples with grit, growth, loss, and human imperfection. It's also a testament to the transformative potential of storytelling."
—Danielle Ofri, Editor, Bellevue Literary Review, and author of What Doctors Feel: How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine
"Acamea Deadwiler's Daddy's Little Stranger is a powerful and deeply felt memoir of family, longing, estrangement, complicated love, and what ties us to ourselves. Deadwiler's writing is stunningly intimate, reflective, and honest—"I put my foot in the revolving door of father figures, stopped it from spinning." From childhood to adulthood, Daddy's Little Stranger searches for connection, replete with pink Reeboks and #GirlDad tags. Deadwiler's book curled up in my heart and soothed me in my own fatherless, daughterly ache, whispering "it's okay." I loved every tender moment of this memoir and I know you will too."
—Jane Wong, author of Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City
"In Daddy's Little Stranger, Acamea Deadwiler offers readers an honest, yet hopeful self-portrait of adolescent resilience, adaptation and courage. As she reconciles grief, loss and betrayal caused by physically and emotionally absent parents, Deadwiler's intimate narrative quietly reveals her self-preservation and determination. While skillfully presenting an adult consciousness, Deadwiler also remains graciously loyal to the voice of her younger self and the healing of her inner child. Daddy's Little Stranger is an inspirational testimony for all of us who want to believe that the traumas of our past do not dictate the daughters we become."
—Daria Peoples, author and illustrator of Hello, Mister Blue
Single That (2019)
Praise for Single That
"Journalist Deadwiler advocates for the rights of single women in this energetic work. By exposing the double standard of expectations for men and women when it comes to love and family, Deadwiler drives home the point that women can, in fact, be happy and single. She deconstructs expectations of traditional gender roles and heteronormative motives that lead to such myths as that single women are desperate, lonely, jealous, high maintenance, or hard to love. She also provides suggestions for changing the way people think about and behave around single individuals, such as avoiding assumptions about why someone is single and offering a nonjudgmental ear. Single readers will find wise advice and many great examples of how contentment can be a solo act in Deadwiler's empowering testament."
—Publishers Weekly