In August of 1958, after a refreshing swim in Lake Michigan, a young couple suffering from infertility issues received the call that would change their lives forever. As the happy couple drove from Michigan to Marion, Indiana, to pick up their daughter, the baby’s birth mother sobbed as she shakily signed the adoption papers. Although her daughter had already left her body, she never left her heart—sealing a connection that would endure until her last breath. Linda Beggs shares a compelling story of raw feelings and an undeniable bond as she details how she searched for familiarity and yearned for connections throughout her life after she was adopted at birth. Despite growing up in a Christian home with loving parents, Beggs describes how she confronted abandonment and identity issues, along with an increasing curiosity about her biological mother. After two attempts to find her birth mother failed, Beggs buried her feelings—until her persistence finally led her to meet her biological mother, acknowledge her emotions, and receive insight and healing through God’s grace. Undeniable Connections reveals one woman’s journey through adoption as she comes to terms with her emotions and, through God’s wonderful plan, finds beauty in the ashes.

From the Back Cover: Isabel Bolton (pen name for Mary Britton Miller) left behind a classic evocation of a childhood which, despite the early loss of both parents, the author describes as “complete and round—a perfect whole.” Bolton’s earliest impressions of her parents are vague—both died of cholera when she was very young—and her memories begin when the five orphaned Miller children are sent to live with their maternal grandmother. In the elegant rooms of her mansion and in the unkempt gardens surrounding the estate, Mary and her identical twin sister Grace find a sheltering refuge. The shared history of the twins is at the book’s heart. “It was never I but always we,” Bolton writes. But then tragedy strikes, and in this exquisite example of the art of memoir writing, Bolton lyrically recreates the emotional bond which, sixty-eight years later, remained palpably alive.

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About the Author: Isabel Bolton was the pen name of Mary Britton Miller. She wrote poetry and children’s verse under the name Miller until, in her sixties, she began writing serious novels under the pseudonym of Isabel Bolton. Three of her novels, Do I Wake or Sleep, The Christmas Tree, and Many Mansions, have been collected in the omnibus, New York Mosaic. She lived from 1883 to 1975.

From the Back Cover: Beginning with the touching story of a devoted goose, this book is written for anyone who has ever felt different, rejected or empty. Understanding Goose explores issues of loss, grief, rejection, identity, trust, shame, intimacy and control, and how they affect our lives. This book moves beyond mere self-analysis to help readers discover the fulfillment that comes when we look to God for healing and self-worth. In the preface, Jeanie writes, “Without the Scriptures and a relationship with God (which secular teachings often avoid), we miss the most significant and crucial path to healing! It is my conviction that all things work better when based on principles that have their origins in God’s word. May you find rest for your soul as you come to ‘Understand Goose.’”

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About the Author: After graduating from the University of Florida, Jeanie Shaw and her husband, Wyndham, went into the full-time ministry and served churches in North Carolina and West Virginia. They have taught classes on marriage, parenting and leadership in numerous cities and countries. For eight years, Jeanie served as a vice president of HOPE worldwide, working with New England and Europe. She has four grown children and five grandchildren (and counting!), and currently serves as a women’s ministry leader in the Boston Church of Christ.

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By the Same Author: Jacob’s Journey: One Child’s Adoption Teaches Us About Our Place in God’s Family (2011, Discipleship Publications International) and My Morning Cup, and Other Spiritual Thoughts (2011).

Who is Suzanne? A premature newborn whose mother has just died A delightful toddler who doesn’t know a stranger A worried student who avoids wearing thick glasses to escape negative peer comments A loving preadolescent who cares very much for her companions A confused teenager in crisis over identity Ever since starting school, Suzanne has felt different from all her acquaintances. She claims to be mad at God for her appearance. Her adoptive mother relates the tumult of emotions for Suzanne and her family as she seeks to decipher her racial, cultural, and familial identity while dealing with albinism and adoption. Her journey leads to her birth-family, their unfamiliar culture, and the African village of her roots. Although hard to see in the midst of the struggle, the hand of God is guiding and protecting His beloved child while working behind the scenes to bring her dreams to fulfillment.

Love... There are many faces to love: The love my parents had to adopt me. The love I have for them. Love for my children, my husband, my family. Yet a different love for friends, another love for nature and music. All different loves but a gift that we can all share. Challenges... That one faces through life, trying to be a better person, to understand our fellow man, to achieve in our working life, for our future. I wonder... What lies ahead for myself, my family and for all mankind in the coming years?

Autobiography of a half-Korean boy born in the middle of the Korean War. “I was born in the middle of the Korean War. At the age of four, my mother brought me to a street corner and told me to look in one direction and not look back. That was the last time I saw her. I lived on the streets of post-war Korea and was found by a Methodist Missionary Nurse who brought me to an orphanage and a year and a half later, I was adopted by the Clement family into the U.S. In 24 hours, after boarding an airplane, no one could understand me and I could no longer understand anyone else. I thought I had grown instantly stupid over night. Throughout out my teenage years, the feeling of inferiority stayed with me until I attended college and acquired a degree in Psychology from Indiana University and two Engineering degrees from Purdue. I am an inventor with almost two dozen medical patents and am the owner, President/CEO of Mectra Laboratories, Inc., which manufactures surgical instruments that have literally touched the lives of millions of people. We manufacture devices used in laparoscopic surgery and brain surgery. I have traveled to North Korea on humanitarian medical missions and train surgeons in current surgical techniques. Often times, I wonder, how in the world did I go from being a homeless street urchin to training surgeon.” — Thomas Clement

From the Publisher: This collection, compiled by Korean adoptees, serves as a tribute to transracially adopted people sent all over the world. It has been hailed to be the first book to give Korean adoptees the opportunity to speak freely since the pioneering of intercountry adoption after the Korean War. If you were adopted, you are not alone. These stories validate the experiences of all those who have been ridiculed or outright abused but have found the will to survive, thrive, and share their tale. Adopted people all over the world are reclaiming the right to truth and access to birth documents. This book is a living testament on why previous “orphans” do not endorse the profitable Evangelical Orphan Movement. Those who work in the human rights field, whistleblowers, or adopted, will see the value of this book. After years of forced “positivity” led by the profiteers, it is time to be real. These are real stories from individuals no longer serving the adoption pioneers’ fanciful wishes and advertising campaigns. Read this book before you pay adoption agency fees. These courageous narratives could save you tens of thousands of dollars or prevent you from obtaining a child unethically. Be the first to read these narratives and join the ever-expanding Adoption Truth and Transparency Worldwide Network. It’s never too late to walk in awareness!

From the Back Cover: Each year, hundreds of adults who were adopted as children make a desperate search for their natural birth parents. And each year, hundreds of birth parents seek information about the children they gave up to adoption years before.

As adult adoptees and birth parents become a growing and increasingly vocal force in their démands for more information, the need to reevaluate the current sealed-file policies becomes more clear.

Unlocking the Adoption Files sheds new light on the raging debate over the “open adoption movement.” Dr. Sachdev personally interviewed all parties involved in adoption proceedings—adoptees, birth parents, adoptive parents, and adoption agency personnel—and presents a well-rounded picture of their reactions to “opening the adoption files.”

Anyone concerned with the adoption experience should read this book; its findings could help secure a national policy for handling requests for adoption information.

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About the Author: Paul Sachdev, Ph.D., is professor in the School of Social Work at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He has taught and published in the areas of child welfare and reproductive health care. Among his previous books are International Handbook on Abortion (Greenwood Press, 1988), Adoption: Current Issues and Trends (Butterworths, 1984), Perspectives on Abortion (Scarecrow Press, 1985), and Abortion: Readings and Research (Butterworths, 1981). Paul Sachdev is the recipient of several national and international research and travel awards. He received Memorial University’s President’s Award for Outstanding Research. He is also an editor (domestic violence section) of the international journal, Medicine and Law.

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By the Same Author: Adoption: Current Issues and Trends (Ed.; 1984, Butterworths), among others.

Joanne Higginson’s story reveals the plight of many Korean-American children who were abandoned after the U.S. withdrew from Korea after the Korean war. Jeff Higginson, her husband, was a product of a wartime romance between a U.S. married captain and a young Korean women enamored with the kindness and generosity that she did not know before her American hero. After Jeff was merely two months old, this Army captain would leave Korea after the Korean war ended, returning only one more time to assist the Korean women he once loved when she became ill. As he grew up, Jeff would never know his birth father, this American G.I., and would witness his mother struggle to keep him to no avail. She would have to give him up for adoption to America at the age of seven because there, she knew, Jeff would have a better life than what she could provide because he was very American looking and was not accepted in the Korean Society. His eyes were too round. More than thirty years later, Joanne Higginson shares with us her three-year journey to reconnect her husband with his birth mother and father, a reunion to heal the wounds of war rather than ignore the trauma of separation and loss.

Amy was born with an extremely rare condition called Tetraphocomelia—having no arms or legs. She was then left abandoned at the hospital by her birth parents where the staff was asked if they could “put her in a room and not feed her.” In her inspiring, humorous, and uplifting autobiography, Amy takes you on an amazing journey as she shares her life story and her enviable faith. All throughout, she will make you laugh. She will also make you cry a little. Most importantly, Amy will challenge and inspire you in a way that promises to change your life forever!

Unshamed is the remarkable story of triumph over the destruction of self-hood. Born from scandal and adopted into extreme dysfunction, Nan Pelczar’s self-perception has transformed from that of a worthless, little girl to a woman filled with hope. Often daunting, yet always riveting, her journey through adversity will empower readers with the courage to endure.

From the Dust Jacket: Jodie Sweetin grew up in front of America, melting our hearts and making us laugh for eight years as the cherub-faced middle child on Full House. Her ups and downs seemed not so different from our own, but more than a decade after the popular television show ended, the star we knew as goody-two-shoes Stephanie Tanner publicly revealed her shocking recovery from methamphetamine addiction. Even then, Jodie still kept a painful secret—one that could not be solved in thirty minutes with a hug, a stern talking-to, or a bowl of ice cream around the family table. The harrowing battle she swore she had won was really just beginning.

In her deeply personal, utterly raw, and ultimately inspiring memoir, Jodie comes clean about the double life she led—the crippling identity crisis that began at her birth, the hidden anguish of juggling a regular childhood with her Hollywood life, and the vicious cycle of abuse and recovery that led to a relapse even as she wrote this book. Jodie traveled the country speaking to college kids about her triumph over substance abuse, yet she partied nightly, spending tens of thousands of dollars on her habit. Her addiction tore her family apart and alienated her from her former Full House cast mates until becoming a mother gave her the determination and the courage to get sober.

Today, Jodie’s life is a work in progress. Resilient, charming, and funny, she writes candidly about taking each day at a time. Hers is not a story of success or defeat, but of facing your demons, finding yourself, and telling the whole truth—UnSweetined.

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About the Author: Jodie Sweetin is best known for her role as Stephanie Tanner on ABC’s long-running, hugely popular sitcom Full House, which still airs in syndication. She has shared her story on Good Morning America, The Big Idea with Donnie Deutsch, Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, and Chelsea Lately, and hosted Pants-Off Dance-Off on Fuse. She lives in California with her daughter, Zoie.

From the Dust Jacket: In June 2011, Susan Spencer-Wendel learned she had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)—Lou Gehrig’s disease—an irreversible condition that systematically destroys the nerves that power the muscles. She was 44 years old, with three young children, and she had only one year of health remaining.

She decided to live that year with joy.

She left her job as a journalist and spent time with her family. She built a meeting place for friends in her backyard. And she took seven trips with the seven most important people in her life. As her health declined, Susan journeyed to the Yukon, Hungary, the Bahamas, and Cyprus. She went to the beach with her sons and to Kleinfeld’s bridal shop in New York City with her teenage daughter, Marina, for a glimpse of the wedding she will never attend.

She also wrote this book. No longer able to walk or even lift her arms, she tapped it out letter by letter on her iPhone using only her right thumb, the last finger still working.

And yet Until I Say Good-Bye is not angry or bitter. It is sad in parts—how could it not be?—but it is filled with Susan’s optimism, joie de vivre and sense of humour. It is a book that, like Susan, will make everyone smile.

From a hilarious family Christmas disaster to the decrepit monastery in eastern Cyprus where she rediscovered her heritage, Until I Say Good-Bye is Susan Spencer-Wendel’s unforgettable gift to her loved ones and to us: a record of their final experiences together and a reminder that every day is better when it is lived with joy.

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About the Author: Susan Spencer-Wendel was an award-winning journalist at the Palm Beach Post for almost twenty years. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Florida.

She has been honored for her work by the Society of Professional Journalists and the Florida Press Club, and she received a lifetime achievement award for her court reporting from the Florida Bar. She lives in West Palm Beach, Florida, with her family.

Bret Witter has collaborated on five New York Times bestsellers. He lives in Decatur, Georgia.

I am adopted. I couldn’t figure out why my birth parents didn’t keep me. Had I been an inconvenience, or had someone been brave and selfless to have me adopted to give me a better life? My thoughts about my birth father ran the spectrum from a one night stand with him not even realizing there was a baby, to a parent wrenched from his child unwillingly. Was there anyone out there thinking about me, wondering if I was safe and well? What was my medical background? Did I really want to know? What if there was some horrible genetic fate awaiting me? How could I risk disrupting and upsetting my adopted family by telling them I wanted to find other parents? How could I disrupt and upset my birth parents’ families? You can’t just show up decades later and announce yourself as someone’s long-lost child. All these questions led to years of indecision and inertia on my part, that led to career and social stagnation. What and whom did I want to be in life? How do you answer that if you don’t know who you are now? Eventually something a friend said prompted the search and discovery of a lifetime. What I uncovered led me across the ocean, brought me closer to myself, and redefined unconditional love.

From the Publisher: Valerie Harrison had a happy childhood in Plymouth, where she still lives. Her story begins during September 1945, when she and her siblings were removed from their mother’s care by their father. Despite his apparent concern for their welfare, he too was to abandon his three children and they were taken into care. Valerie’s story recounts what happened to her and her siblings during those early years: her adoption, her Catholic upbringing, what she later learned about her birth family and an unforgettable reunion sixty years on. Her recollection of growing up in Plymouth will rekindle memories for those readers who experienced life in and around her home city in the post-war years. Valerie also brings her story up to date with accounts of her marriage and the birth of children and grandchildren.

In The Vallian Trilogy: An Inventive Life. Part I: The Engineer, Larry Wahl describes the unique experiences that eventually brought him to where he is today at 83 years of age. In this first book of three, this account of the first 20 years of his life unfolds as intense, with pathos and unexpected humor, and lays the groundwork for his future occupation as an OSS (now CIA) assassin and his later transformation into a creative, productive citizen. Taken away from a loving father and his birth home of Goble, Oregon, he was brought to Chicago by his mother and her mob boyfriend (Tony) to live in one of Al Capone’s brothels where he saw Tony kill an important member of Capone’s gang, resulting in the banishment to Portland’s Italian/Jewish ghetto. Larry’s existence, before the age of six, was a compendium of neglect, loss, despair, violence, and sex. But after being abandoned by his mother at 6, he lived as an orphan among 200 nuns at Providence Academy in Vancouver, Washington until he was adopted by the Wahl family at age 10. While it may seem that his life should have changed for the better, and it did, in terms of food and lodging, the buried and not-so-buried early experiences resulted in him never bonding with any family. How he managed to flourish, in a manner of speaking, was by acquiring a group of friends—he claims they were mostly misfits like him—and pursuing his one goal in life: learning everything about everything!! Books were his lifeline, libraries his most revered institutions, and schools—while a disaster the first two years of high school—embedded in his mind the means to educate himself, even though his curriculum wasn’t necessarily on the schools’ agendas. Learning was his savior: It rescued a damaged, abused, neglected, full of rage child from total spiritual annihilation. Through his episodic stories, insights into his life and the individuals who peopled it emerge, not unscathed!

A Memoir dedicated to Autism; Adoption; Perception & Motivation.

From the Back Cover: First time writer, Amy Jamison, recounts the story of her death experience in nineteen seventy-six from a collapsed lung, resulting from walking pneumonia. This amazing novel, a true story, describes Amy’s out of body trip to Heaven, where she encounters a dark entity, two angels, three spirits of deceased relatives and “Jesus.”

This story includes her gift of visions of future events, involving immediate, family members. These visions begin in nineteen eighty-one and at first, Amy is not sure what she is supposed to do with the knowledge, as they frighten her.

There are visions of her children, insect infestations, death, good and bad spirits, a fire, a disappearance, a stabbing, visits from passing relatives’ spirits, as well as a message from God, through a visiting minister. It also, includes an unspeakable vision of her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend.

The elders in heaven test Amy and if she passes it, she will learn the identity of her birth father. This story also, includes a surprise ending, with a vision for Amy.

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About the Author: Amy Jamison grew up on a small island in Texas with her three brothers and a sister. After graduating high school, Amy traveled to Nevada, where she met and married her children’s father. Two years later, the family moved to Arizona, where she majored in natural resources and French. After retiring from a twenty-six year career as a dental assistant, Amy eventually moved to Phoenix, Arizona.

The author grew up within the quagmire of the foster care system. He was voiceless and forgotten. His voice was regained in his first book, Lost Son? A Bastard Child’s Journey of Hope, Search, Discovery and Healing, the story of his life. Through poetry, articles, and letters the painful, most intimate feelings during those years are shared. Tribute is paid to the heroes of the system—foster parents—and a letter of encouragement offered to the children within the system today. Problems within the system and the need for reform are not only clearly stated but also detailed potential solutions are offered. The nation is called to action in the best interest of the children. His voice, once lost, has been found and will not be silenced.

From the Back Cover: Voices of the Left Behind contains the personal stories of nearly 50 Canadian war children who have been helped by Project Roots. It is filled with fascinating archival images and documents as well as original wartime correspondence between the mothers, the Canadian fathers, the Department of National Defence, Veterans Affairs, and other Canadian institutions. Letters from the war children to the Military Personnel Records Unit of the National Archives of Canada illustrate the historic pattern of denial. What these institutions all have in common is their consistent refusal to help war children find their Canadian fathers. Introductory essays frame the subject and give a historical context to the tragic situations these women and their children found themselves in.

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About the Author: Lloyd Rains is a Canadian veteran of the Second World War. After the liberation of Holland, he met Olga Trestorff, and she came to Canada as a war bride. In 1980 they founded Project Roots. Olga has written three books: We Became Canadians, Children of the Liberation, and The Summer of 46. They live in the Netherlands, where they work with war children.

Melynda Jarratt lives in Fredericton. She has been involved with Project Roots since 1995. She has worked as a writer, researcher, filmmaker, and web developer on projects ranging from Canada’s History Television to the Queen Mary II.

These books for adults use the unusual style of graphic novels (sort of like comics, but for grownups) in order to tell the author’s experiences of being adopted. WAHH 1 (36p.) starts with his birth in a foundling hospital. Thirty-five years later, a man in a diaper searches for his birth parents and the meaning of life while exploring his feelings of abandonment. WAHH 2 (44p.) revisits these issues as he reaches adulthood. These books represent the author’s feelings about adoption and show his understanding of how the baby, Francis Grimaldi, came to be the adult, Henry Wolyniec. WAHH 3 (44p.) and WAHH 4 (28p.), complete the series and detail Mr. Wolyniec’s reunion experiences.

From the Dust Jacket: Decades of secret letters from a mother longing for her daughter ...
1929
I sure hated to give her up. But I know it was for the best. I miss her so every night ...
1933
I would like to know how my big baby girl is getting along. ... Sometimes the hills are hard to climb, and if I could only hear of her once in awhile it means so much.
1939
Bless her little heart, I hope she shall be happy always. ... I would so appreciate just a line or two about her.
1944
I m wondering how my little Betty is. I know I should be very proud of her now. She must be a young lady, nearly sixteen. I think of her so often. ...
1945
Betty Jane will be seventeen yrs old ... it hardly seems possible ... please write me if you ve any news ... she is at such a tender age now.
1947
Please write me if you have word ... will make my Xmas happier just to know she is fine and happy. ...

It’s never too late for a miracle.

When an old woman begs God to let her see the daughter who had been taken from her arms almost eighty years before―could her impossible prayer come true?

In the summer of 1928, sixteen-year-old Minka was looking forward to a sewing class picnic. This would be a rare chance to put aside farm chores, don a pretty dress, and enjoy an outing with other girls. It would be a day to remember.

And it was ... but not in the way Minka had dreamed. Cornered by a stranger in the woods, the young girl was assaulted. Minka still believed that the stork brought babies; she would not discover for months that she was pregnant.

The story that follows has been almost a hundred years in the making. What happens when a new mother must make a heartbreaking sacrifice to give her baby daughter the life she deserves? Can her cherished memories carry her through decades of turmoil, during a rapidly changing time in American history? And in the end, can she trust God for a miracle? The Waiting is an unforgettable true story of faith that triumphs, forgiveness that sets us free, and love that never forgets.

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About the Author: Cathy LaGrow learned in 2006 the secret her grandmother Minka Disbrow had been carrying for almost eighty years—that she’d given up a baby, “Betty Jane,” for adoption long ago. Cathy’s mother, Dianna, is Minka’s second child, born nearly eighteen years after Betty Jane. Cathy is author of the blog Windows and Paper Walls

and has been published in Chicken Soup for the New Mom’s Soul. She and her husband, Dan, have two sons and live in Oregon, where Cathy is often found in the kitchen baking or curled up in a chair reading. The Waiting is her debut book.

Cindy Coloma is a bestselling author who has published numerous nonfiction books and twelve novels, including Beautiful, Song of the Brokenhearted (with coauthor Sheila Walsh) and The Salt Garden (named one of Library Journal’s Best Books 2004). She has collaborated as a writer with high-profile media personalities, political figures, and international singers/speakers. Cindy lives with her husband and five children in Redding, California.

From the Back Cover: A Walking Peace is a non-fiction account of the coming of age of a young African American man adopted and raised by a deeply religious but profoundly troubled family in inner-city Boston in the 1980s and ’90s. It addresses the author’s entanglement with the issues of abandonment, poverty, and homelessness. It profiles his search for racial identity, self-worth, and love—his quest for “A Walking Peace.”

This memoir offers a graphic description of the physical, verbal, and sexual abuse the author secretly endured throughout much of his childhood at the hands of family members. It focuses primarily, however, not on his victimization but on his transcendence of his circumstances through the combined powers of religious faith and a musical vocation.

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About the Author: Nathan Landers has been extensively interviewed and profiled in the press. He serves as a motivational speaker, an activist against child abuse and neglect, and a Minister of music in his community. He is an accomplished musician of Berklee College of Music, the world’s largest independent music college and a premier institution for the study of contemporary music.

From the Back Cover: Do you feel you belong; that you fit in in this world? Have you experienced abuse, adoption, loss, and grief? The Wall of Secrets was how I survived those feelings of not belonging, not fitting-in; not being wanted or loved. Each drawer holds one of my traumas, one of my secrets. Not only do adoptees struggle with these feelings, but perhaps everyday people like you do as well.

My first memoir, Finding Heart Horse, led me to a place where I was able to open my Wall of Secrets one drawer at a time, and heal the many traumas. I go from being the “street kid” in Finding Heart Horse to a nurse and mother experiencing a near death experience, uncovering demons from my past, and after thirty-five years of searching, finding my biological family. The journey is not without many twists and turns as painful discoveries are made and truths revealed.

The Wall of Secrets proves that people can change; that our thoughts do affect our daily lives and the direction we take. That inside, deep inside, your heart and soul you can find the diamonds of your authentic self.

We all want to belong, to be loved, to trust and be our true selves. Inside these pages you will find inspiration to push through your fears, to get to the other side where peace lies waiting. There is always hope and healing. If you dig deep enough, you too will find your diamonds and discover they were there all along just waiting.

A portion of the proceeds from this book will go to Covenant House Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

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By the Same Author: Finding Heart Horse: A Memoir of Survival (2013).

A wonderfully written, true story of a man’s search through painful family history (including parental neglect and abandonment). Through it all, the strength and resilience of the human spirit prevails. Intensely personal autobiography, astounding for its clarity and its insights into how the past affects our present lives, even when we are unaware of it.

The Want Ad is a true adoption story which took place during the last years of the Great Depression. It is a story of a father’s desperation in taking care of seven children by himself, and his determination that his child should have a better life by letting her be adopted by another couple. This book tracks her journey from the age of four (when she was adopted) to the finding of her nine siblings fifty-one years later. This story is shared with the hope this record might help others begin their journey to be reunited with their family.

From the Publisher: Adoptive reunions are emotional events. The reconnection with my father in 2011 was right out of a storybook—father and daughter back together after so many years of separation. What started out as a fantasy, quickly turned into a nightmare as an unusual and little known phenomenon called genetic sexual attraction took hold of our relationship. What child looking for their parent imagines a situation in which the roles of lover and father get mixed up? I was happily married and raising three children. Unprepared for the intensity of love and affection I felt for him during our reunion, I ignored the signs of danger as our relationship continued at intense speed. Boundaries blurred and my desire to know him ignited a sexual passion that turned his, “I love you’s,” into, “I want you.” The experience caused me to question and rebel against every rule I had known about incest, parental love, and psychological abuse. Plunged into the depth of this haunted taboo, I felt both love and murderous hate towards the man who gave me life. If I turned away from this twisted relationship, would I lose the father I had just found? As a survivor of genetic sexual attraction, I co-own a website, blog, and online community that supports individuals who are struggling with GSA. This is my story. It is dark, graphic, and difficult for many to understand. I feel it necessary to disclose this information so any and all readers understand what they are buying. If you have ever reunited with a long lost parent, this book is for you. If you are someone who has been in a twisted and complicated abusive relationship, this book is for you as well. I hope my story will help others who find themselves in a confusing adoptive reunion.

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About the Author: Julie DeNeen is a freelance writer who specializes in the area of psychology, relationships, and adoption. She also co-owns the GSA website for adults who are in complicated reunions. She has appeared on ABC and Dr. Drew regarding her personal adoption reunion story.

From the Dust Jacket: In the mid-1980s, Emmanuel Jal was a seven-year-old boy living in a small Sudanese village. But as Sudan’s civil war moved closer and the Islamic government seized tribal lands for water, oil, and other resources, Jal’s family was forced to flee again and again in search of peace. Then, on one terrible day, Jal was separated from his mother, later learning that she had been killed. His father rose to become a powerful commander fighting for the freedom of Sudan in the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, and soon Jal was conscripted into that army, as one of ten thousand child soldiers who fought through civil wars lasting nearly a decade.

Orphaned and adrift, Jal lived through horror: marching through miles of desert toward Ethiopia, past the bones of adults and children who had fallen on the trek; witnessing the deaths of friends and family members; killing soldiers with a gun he could barely lift; starving to the point of near-cannibalism; and coming to the edge of suicide. But, remarkably, Jal survived, and after being rescued by a charismatic aid worker, he began the journey that would lead him to music. Writing about his life--what he had witnessed and survived—he began recording rhymes over simple backing tracks. From these humble beginnings, Jal rose to become one of Africa’s top hip-hop artists, releasing an acclaimed album and participating in an award-winning documentary film about his life.

Shocking, inspiring, and finally hopeful, War Child is a memoir by a unique young man who is determined to tell his story and in so doing bring peace to his homeland.

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About the Author: Emmanuel Jal’s music has been featured in the movie Blood Diamond, the documentary God Grew Tired of Us, and in three episodes of television’s ER. He is a spokesman for Amnesty International and Oxfam, and has done work for Save the Children, UNICEF, World Food Programme, Christian Aid, and other charities. He has also established his own charitable foundation, Gua Africa, to help former Sudanese child soldiers. In May 2008 he released his first studio album, Warchild, and a documentary about Jal’s life, War Child, premiered to acclaim at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival and also was the winner of the Cadillac award at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008.

Hunger, alcoholism, and neglect were constant factors in the life of young Ronnie Somerville and his brothers. Living in a poverty-stricken area of Chicago and spending most of his days at home, alone on a dirty floor, was the existence he had come to know by the age of three. And then came the Covenant Children’s Home. As a ward of the state, Ronnie was shuffled from one house to the next, and greeted by couples that were ill-equipped to accommodate the emotional needs of a child. A Ward of the State chronicles the true experiences faced by Ron Huber as a little boy growing up in the foster care system of Chicago, Illinois in the late 1940s. It speaks volumes about the tragic realities of a system that was supposed to be for the kids, but instead failed kids like Ronnie severely. But like any good Cinderella story, the triumph uproots the storm when the warmth of one particular family encompasses Ronnie and teaches him what being loved is all about—and shows us all that the power of love can take us to heights that our beginnings never would have forecast.

A true story of a successful adoption search and reunion with one Canadian family. Heartwarming and inspirational, this story shares details of how the author, Sarah Elaine Eaton, found her birth brother using Internet adoption search registries. She shares how the match was confirmed through government records and how a series of reunions brought the family together. In the final pages, she shares how the family lost their mother to cancer in the same year as the reunion. She died having fulfilled her last wish, which was to know that the son she had given up for adoption decades earlier was happy and healthy.