Cursed Daughters: A Read with Jenna Pick

A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick • A young woman must shake off a family curse and the widely held belief that she is the reincarnation of her dead cousin in this wickedly funny, sharply observed novel about love, female rivalry, superstition, and inherited trauma from the author of My Sister, the Serial Killer.

A Best Book of the Year by Time, NPR, and USA Today

“Funny and fierce, this is a fast read that you won’t forget quickly.” — The Boston Globe

When Ebun gives birth to her daughter, Eniiyi, on the same day the family buries her cousin Monife, the resemblance between the newborn and the dead woman is impossible to ignore. Soon, the entire family becomes convinced that Eniiyi is Monife reincarnated—and destined to repeat her life.

Then there is the family curse: “No man will call your house home. And if they try, they will not have peace…” For generations, the curse has left heartbreak in its wake, forcing three generations of Falodun women to live together under one roof.

When Eniiyi falls in love, she can no longer avoid the weight of her family’s history. Is she doomed to repeat the same patterns of love, abandonment, and loss? Or can she break free—not only from the fate that led Monife to a lonely death, but also from the secrets and unspoken traumas that have shaped her life since before she can remember?

Cursed Daughters is a vibrant blend of humor and hard-won wisdom, romantic love and family obligation. At its heart, the novel asks what it means to be given a second chance—and how to live wisely with the life we inherit.