Christine Blasey Ford is back and ready for more — disbelief, tears? Perhaps all of it. The professor of sociology who testified in 2018 that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had committed sexual assault against her in high school is set to release a memoir this March detailing the trial.
Cockburn suspects your opinion on whether the book will be fiction or nonfiction depends on how you vote, though One Way Back promises to be “the compelling true story behind the testimony that awed the nation.”
According to St. Martin’s Press, the memoir recounts the months leading up to the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing as Ford attempted to get information “into the right hands” without bringing backlash on her friends and family. “The book reveals riveting new details about the leadup to her testimony and its overwhelming aftermath and describes how she continues to navigate her way out of the storm.”
In a statement about the memoir, Ford said, “I never thought of myself as a survivor, a whistleblower, or an activist before the events in 2018. But now, what I and this book can offer is a call to all the other people who might not have chosen those roles for themselves, but who choose to do what’s right.”
Cockburn is glad that at least Ford believes she did the right thing when many in her orbit don’t. It must have been hard when her lifelong friend refused to corroborate her story and harder still when her own father, Ralph Blasey, allegedly shook hands with Ed Kavanaugh, offering support for his son. “I’m glad Brett was confirmed,” Ralph told Ed at the Burning Tree Club, a country club in Bethesda, Maryland.
Ford said she hopes to inspire people to speak out in ripples that may one day cause a wave. And she’s not speaking from her experience in the Kavanaugh trial — no wave was formed to halt his confirmation. Rather, the ever-chill professor shares the lesson she’s learned as a surfer. In the memoir, Ford “explains the process of paddling out into unknown waters despite the risks and fears, knowing there is only one way back to shore.” So rad, dude.
