First in the Family. A Story of Survival, Recovery, and the American Dream (en Inglés) - Jessica Hoppe

Longlisted for the 2025 Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize

In this deeply moving and lyrical memoir, Jessica Hoppe shares an intimate, courageous account of what it means to truly interrupt cycles of harm.

“A powerful thunderclap of a memoir.” —Lilliam Rivera, author of Dealing in Dreams

During the first year of the pandemic and the ensuing isolation, fatal drug overdoses spiked to numbers previously unseen. Hoppe’s cousin was one of them. “I never learned the true history of substance use disorder in my family,” Hoppe writes. “People just disappeared.” At the time of her cousin’s death, Hoppe had been in recovery for nearly four years, but she hadn’t told anyone.

In First in the Family, Hoppe shares her journey as the first in her family to recover from addiction and takes the reader on a remarkable investigation of her family’s history, the American Dream, and the erasure of BIPOC from recovery institutions and narratives.

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2024: Today.com, LupitaReads, Electric Literature, Esquire, Publishers Weekly

“[A] stunning... deeply moving memoir about how understanding our histories—both present and past—allows for recovery and healing rooted in the politics of liberation."
―BookPage (starred review)

"First in the Family does the mammoth work of bending backward and forward, weaving a multivalent story that asks us to consider the actual, and often awesome, debris of necessary fracture. A beautiful piece of art."
―Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy

"A gripping narrative of generational addiction... This is an essential read, offering profound insights into the complexities of addiction in families and the often-obscured and difficult path to recovery." ―Booklist

"Hoppe debuts with a bold and illuminating account of getting sober and her attempts to ‘decolonize recovery’ by deconstructing ingrained narratives about people of color and substance abuse... She presents her findings in sharp, forceful prose, effortlessly weaving together her personal story and her insights into the intersection between race and sobriety. This is essential reading."
―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"An illuminating and intense reading experience." —Kirkus

“First in the Family is a riveting memoir, but also a tender guide to overcoming — addiction, trauma, colonialism. It takes a writer with great emotional intelligence and generosity to trace the harrowing moments of her life back to the invisible systems and structures that damage every one of us. Jessica Hoppe has done that more.” —Alejandro Varela, author of The Town of Babylon

"Jessica Hoppe writes with grace and gripping candor about being the first in her family to recover from addiction in this fiery debut memoir." —Esquire

"Jessica Hoppe’s First in the Family crackles like a bonfire: fierce and wise, bearing light and warmth. I read it in a single sitting, breathless and grateful, spellbound by a voice vibrating with insight, compassion, and candor, and a reckoning unafraid to wrestle fully with the important truths and histories at stake. Like so many American traditions, recovery in the U.S. has been dominated by whiteness that claims what it did not discover and refuses to listen to what it doesn’t want to hear, but Hoppe’s stunning book invites us into the next, necessary chapter of our collective recovery from our deluded dreams, challenging us to remember James Baldwin’s call: 'Everything now, we must assume, is in our hands; we have no right to assume otherwise.' Hoppe does not assume otherwise. Instead, she tells her story and follows it outward into a stunning illumination of American life." –Leslie Jamison, New York Times bestselling author of The Recovering and The Empathy Exams

“A powerful thunderclap of a memoir, Jessica Hoppe’s First in the Family is a rich excavation of one woman’s descent into addiction and the power found in laying it all bare. Hoppe’s uncompromising voice doesn’t hide behind platitudes but gently unravels damaging legacies tied to the “American Dream” with a much-needed critique of the recovery movement. A triumphant example of hope where breaking harmful cycles is not found in the individual achievement but in a collective one.” –Lilliam Rivera, award-winning author of Dealing in Dreams

“First in the Family is truth-telling at its finest. At once raw and brilliant, Jessica Hoppe's debut memoir breaks not only family cycles, but the cycle of the American Dream: a patriarchal, white, racist, misogynist nightmare that doesn’t stand a chance in the face of Hoppe's cutthroat pen. Everyone can learn from this level of honesty. We are fortunate to live at the same time as a writer like Jessica.” –Javier Zamora, New York Times bestselling author of Solito

"First in the Family sings with love and shouts with rage, offering an uplifting account of resilience and recovery even while calling out the seductive dangers of the American Dream. Jessica Hoppe has crafted an important, pathbreaking contribution by distilling the historical stakes of the addiction crisis, while simultaneously presenting a wrenching and unique personal narrative. It's an insightful chronicle of the burdens of specialness, the weight of intergenerational trauma, and the stigma of addiction. In the end, it's an inspiring and essential message that there are numerous and diverse pathways of recovery.” –Carl Erik Fisher, M.D., author of The Urge

“First in the Family is the book I’ve been waiting for: A powerful reckoning combined with an inspiring sense of freedom. Perfect for anyone questioning their relationship with alcohol, and looking for an honest account of what it takes to navigate sobriety as a woman of color.” –Lupita Aquino, LupitaReads