Overview

• E.A. Hanks published The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road on April 8, detailing episodes of emotional and physical abuse by her late mother, Samantha Lewes.
• She recounts a childhood split between her mother’s Sacramento home and her father’s Los Angeles household, describing squalid conditions and a custody change in seventh grade after violence escalated.
• The memoir follows her six-month solo journey along Interstate 10 to Florida, where she sought to understand her mother’s past and confront long-buried family trauma.
• Tom Hanks publicly endorsed the book at the May 26 premiere of his film The Phoenician Scheme, calling his daughter’s honesty and curiosity a source of pride.
• He lauded E.A. as a bold, journalistic literate mind and celebrated her courage in examining complex family dynamics through her writing.