Adoption Deception: A Personal and Professional Journey
by Penny Mackieson
Have you ever wondered how it might feel to have been adopted in Australia during the pre-1980s era in which vulnerable young mothers were coerced into relinquishing their babies? How

The Adoption Machine: The Dark History of Ireland’s Mother & Baby Homes and the Inside Story of How "Tuam 800" Became a Global Scandal
by Paul Jude Redmond
MAY 2014. The Irish public woke to the horrific discovery of a mass grave containing the remains of almost 800 babies in the "Angels’ Plot’ of Tuam’s Mother and Baby

The Adoption Papers
by Jackie Kay
Jackie Kay tells the story of a black girl's adoption by a white Scottish couple- from three different viewpoints: the mother, the birth mother, and the daughter. Adoptee Author: Jackie Kay

Adoptionland: From Orphans to Activists
Edited by Janine Myung Ja, Michael Allen Potter, and Allen L. Vance
This anthology begins with personal accounts and then shifts to a bird’s eye view on adoption from domestic, intercountry and transracial adoptees who are now adoptee rights activists. Along with

An Affair with My Mother: A Story of Adoption, Secrecy and Love
by Caitríona Palmer
Caitríona Palmer had a happy childhood in Dublin, raised by loving adoptive parents. But when she was in her late twenties, she realized that she had a strong need to

As I Lay Me Down to Sleep
by Eileen Munro with Carol McKay
The harrowing true story of how one woman was betrayed by everyone who was supposed to care for her. When Eileen Munro's mother became pregnant at 17, she was told

An Australian Son
by Gordon Matthews
Autobiography of Gordon Matthews. Adopted at birth, he grew up in the 1950s in middle class Kew. Through a series of circumstances Matthews came to believe he was of Aboriginal

Billie's Kid: A True Story About Adoption
by Steve Tucker
Jazz musician Steve Tucker has always known he was adopted and has spent nearly fifty years tormented by thoughts of who he is, where he came from, and whom he

Black Anthology: Adult Adoptees Claim Their Space
Edited by Susan Harris O'Connor, MSW; Diane René Christian; Mei-Mei Akwai Ellerman, PhD
People who identify as Black adoptees are vaguely known within both adoption circles as well as universal discussions. We are just beginning to be introduced to one another. This anthology

Blackbirds
by Greg Santos
In Blackbirds, Greg Santos delves into the raw, private mythologies of parenthood, adoption, ethnicity, and uncertain histories. These lyrical poems bring us from Lisbon's winding ways, to cramped Paris quarters

Bloodshot Monochrome
by Patience Agbabi
A glorious poetic take on all things black, white, and read. Reinventing the sonnet, Patience Agbabi shines her euphoric, musical lines on everything from growing up to growing old, from Northern

The Boy from Nowhere
by Gregor Fisher with Melanie Reid
The warm, funny memoir of Gregor Fisher, the much loved Scottish actor best known for Rab C. Nesbitt, told as he uncovers his dramatic family history. Growing up in the

Coloring & Journal Book For Adoptees With Motivational Quotes: For Adoptees Healing Journey - Volume 1
by Angel Davis; illustrated by Angie McGahey
As an adult adoptee that struggles with the seven core issues of being adopted, (loss, rejection, guilt and shame, grief, identity, intimacy, and mastery/control), I have created this therapeutic coloring

A Family from Barra: An Adoption Story
by Beryl Martin
Beryl Martin grew up as Pat Ridge, daughter of Nellie and George. George worked at the Municipal Milk Department; Nellie fostered children, to whom she was mostly cruel. Roaming Wellington

Finding Heart Horse: A Memoir of Survival
by Claire Hitchon (with Janice Harper)
Have you ever wanted something so badly it was all you could think of? All you could talk about, write about, dream about. Claire did. She wanted a horse. Finding

The Fish Ladder: A Journey Upstream
by Katharine Norbury
Katharine Norbury was abandoned as a baby in a Liverpool convent. Raised by loving adoptive parents, she grew into a wanderer, drawn by the landscape of the British countryside. One

Flip the Script: Adult Adoptee Anthology
Edited by Diane René Christian, Amanda H.L. Transue-Woolston, and Rosita González
Flip the Script: Adult Adoptee Anthology is a dynamic artistic exploration of adoptee expression and experience. This anthology offers readers a diverse compilation of literature and artistry from a global

Ghost Face
by Greg Santos
In his third DC Books title, Ghost Face, Greg Santos explores what it means to have been a Cambodian infant adopted by a Canadian family. Through a uniquely playful and self-reflective

Gold from the Stone: New and Selected Poems
by Lemn Sissay
Lemn Sissay was seventeen when he wrote his first poetry book, which he hand-sold to the miners and millworkers of Wigan. Since then his poems have become landmarks, sculpted in

Heartlines: The Year I Met My Other Mother
by Susannah McFarlane and Robin Leuba
In 1965, Robin, unmarried and pregnant, comes to Melbourne to give birth and give her baby up for adoption, then returns to Perth to resume her life having never seen

If I Should Die Before I Wake
By Eileen Munro
In her memoir As I Lay Me Down to Sleep, Eileen Munro vividly documented the abuse she experienced at the hands of her adoptive parents and, later, within the care

Invisible Boy: A Memoir of Self-Discovery
by Harrison Mooney
A powerful, experiential journey from white cult to Black consciousness: Harrison Mooney's riveting story of self-discovery lifts the curtain on the trauma of transracial adoption and the internalized antiblackness at

Ireland and the Magdalene Laundries: A Campaign for Justice
by Claire McGettrick, Katherine O'Donnell, Maeve O'Rourke, James M. Smith, and Mari Steed
Between 1922 and 1996, over 10,000 girls and women were imprisoned in Magdalene Laundries, including those considered 'promiscuous', a burden to their families or the state, those who had been

Life In-Between: A Story of Adoption, Recovery and Connection
by Julia F. Richardson
Born in 1958 and given up for adoption Julia’s story is an exploration of a search for love, belonging and identity. It is a story of relinquishment and reunion, of

Life Lines: Writing Transcultural Adoption
by John McLeod
Adoptions that cross the lines of culture, race, and nation are a major consequence of conflicts around the globe, yet their histories and representations have rarely been considered. Life Lines: Writing

The Little Book of Adoption: A Candid Look at Life through the Eyes of Adoptees
by Heather Waters; illustrated by Ellie Turner
Have you ever wondered what goes on in the adoptees world? Here's a candid look into the world of the adopted person through the eyes of adoptees. Adoptee Author: Heather

Love & Genetics: A True Story of Adoption, Surrogacy, and the Meaning of Family
by Mark MacDonald and Rachel Elliott
When a family secret comes to light, lives are changed forever in this honest, beautiful, and sometimes painful memoir. When Mark, adopted at birth, set out to find his genetic

Mother Me: An Adopted Woman's Journey to Motherhood
by Zara H. Phillips
The adopted daughter of loving parents, Zara Phillips nonetheless felt out of place in her family and a misfit in the world around her. Although cherished by a well-meaning mother and

Mum's the Word!
by Lorna Little
What happens when you receive a piece of information that changes your life? Mum’s the Word is not just one way to react, but also a 40,000-word memoir that takes

My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me: A Black Woman Discovers Her Family's Nazi Past
by Jennifer Teege and Nikola Sellmair (translated by Carolin Sommer)
This is the extraordinary and moving memoir of a woman who learns that her grandfather was Amon Goeth, the brutal Nazi commandant depicted in Schindler's List. When Jennifer Teege, a

My Name Is Why
by Lemn Sissay
How does a government steal a child and then imprison him? How does it keep it a secret? This story is how. At the age of seventeen, after a childhood

Ohpikiihaakan-ohpihmeh (Raised Somewhere Else): A '60s Scoop Adoptee’s Story of Coming Home
by Colleen Cardinal
During the Sixties Scoop, over 20,000 Indigenous children in Canada were removed from their biological families, lands, and culture and trafficked across provinces, borders, and overseas to be raised in

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
by Jeanette Winterson
Winner of the Whitbread Prize for best first fiction, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is a coming-out novel from Winterson, the acclaimed author of The Passion and Sexing the

Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption
Edited by Jane Jeong Trenka, Julia Chinyere Oparah, and Sun Yung Shin
Many adoptees are required to become people that they were never meant to be. While transracial adoption tends to be considered benevolent, it often exacts a heavy emotional, cultural, and

Overwhelmed by God's Grace: Uncovering the Truth About Adoption
by Margaret Etcher Theriault
Margaret always knew she was adopted. She was told she was “chosen” and “special” but she always wondered why her roots needed to be such a big secret. When the truth

Phantom Parents: Memoir of an Adoptee
by David Enker
An unusual adoption, a gruesome family discovery, a lonesome journey through North America, a miraculous death escape at the 7/7 bombings in the London Underground and a life-altering diagnosis are just

The Presence of Absence: A Story About Busyness, Brokenness, and Being Beloved
by Linda Hoye
We wear busyness as a badge of accomplishment and personal success. But when we use it to fill a void, being busy can become an addiction. Busyness helps us feel

Probably Ruby
by Lisa Bird-Wilson
This is the story of a woman in search of herself, in every sense. When we first meet Ruby, a Métis woman in her thirties, her life is spinning out

Problem Child
by Caradoc King
Adopted at eighteen months, Caradoc King was brought up in a large and growing family. His adoptive mother, a complex woman, was unable to bond with her newly adopted son

R.A.W.
by Patience Agbabi
First poetry collection by UK poet Patience Agbabi. Portions of the collection are reportedly autobiographical. Adoptee Author: Patience Agbabi Publication Year: 1995 Adoptee Reviews:  Other Reviews: 

Red Dust Road
by Jackie Kay
From the moment when, as a little girl, she realizes that her skin is a different colour from that of her beloved mum and dad, to the tracing and finding

Searching for Enda
by Paul G. Denny
Everyone has a story to tell. Some are of heartbreak, some of loss, some of passion. In Searching for Enda, a brave man asking questions about his adoption in Britain

Secrets, Spies and Spotted Dogs: Unravelling mysterious family connections behind a secret adoption
by Jane Eales
A simple need for her birth certificate leads Jane, aged 19, to a devastating secret: she is adopted. Stunned, Jane is sworn to secrecy and forbidden to search for her

Somebody's Daughter
by Zara H. Phillips
Zara H. Phillips seemed to live a charmed life -- backing singer to the stars with an incredible career here and across the Atlantic -- but her smile masked a

Split at the Root: A Memoir of Love and Lost Identity
by Catana Tully
In this memoir, the author explores questions of race, adoption, and identity, not as the professor of cultural studies she became, but as the Black child of German settlers in

Survival Without Roots: Memoir of an Adopted Englishwoman (Book 1)
by Anna Anderson
The Survival Without Roots memoir trilogy portrays the melting pot of emotions experienced by many adoptees associated with their lack of identity, as they spend a lifetime wondering … "Is there anyone

Surviving Secrets
by Margaret Watson
A true story that reveals the strength and resilience of the human spirit in the face of betrayal, grief and loss. At age forty, Margaret Watson learned she was adopted.

Swear, Vent & Coloring Book For (very) F*cking Angry Adoptees: For Adoptees Healing Journey - Volume 1
by Angel Davis; illustrated by Angie McGahey
Why an angry sweary coloring and journal book? Because punching people in the face is frowned upon, and anger isn't great for your overall mental and physical health if you

Telling Tales
by Patience Agbabi
In Telling Tales, award-winning poet Patience Agbabi presents an inspired 21st-century remix of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, retelling all of the stories, from the Miller's Tale to the Wife of Bath's,

The Mothers
by Rod Jones
In 1917, while the world is at war, Alma and her children are living in a sleep-out at the back of Mrs Lovett's house in working-class Footscray. When Alma falls

A Timeline of the Injustice of Adoption Law
by Darryl Nelson
A Timeline of the Injustice of Adoption Law traces Australian laws affecting thousands, back to the US theories of eugenics, then back to Britain. It highlights the various notions of

Too Afraid To Cry
by Ali Cobby Eckermann
In Too Afraid to Cry, Ali Cobby Eckermann―who was recently awarded the Windham-Campbell Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards in the world―describes with searing detail the devastating effects of

Transformatrix
by Patience Agbabi
"They call me Jax, though my real name's Eva / The whole of the Jackson Five rolled into one serious diva / No.1 on the guest list, top of the

Tree of Strangers
by Barbara Sumner
"'I live at the end of a gravel road at the top of a valley consumed by bush. My husband is here, and my three girls. But the bush swallows

Two Hearts: An Adoptee's Journey Through Grief to Gratitude
by Linda Hoye
Linda Hoye was in her early twenties when she found herself parentless for the second time. Adopted at five months of age, her heritage, medical history, and access to information

Umbilicus
by Paula Gruben
Charlotte van Katwijk guards herself like a secret. Kids are cruel, and she knows if they find out she’s adopted, she’ll be a bully’s easy target. When they are fourteen,

The Wall of Secrets: Memoir of The Almost Daughter
by Claire Hitchon (with Janice Harper)
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

What Is a Part of Me?
by Ola Zuri
This is the story of a young girl adopted transracially who has some struggles with finding answers to some difficult questions. Follow along with her as she learns some things

Where Do I Belong?
by Ola Zuri
The story is about a young boy who was adopted transracially and feels that something in his family isn't quite right. He wonders and worries about where he fits and

Where the Fuck is My Mother?: A Book for Grown-Up Adoptees
by Annie O
Gritty depiction of an adopted girl’s journey into adulthood starting in 1970s New Zealand. Annie’s story unearths the dark truths about adoption while shedding light on the fact that it’s

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
by Jeanette Winterson
A memoir about a life’s work to find happiness. It is the story of how a painful past that Jeanette thought she'd written over and repainted rose to haunt her, sending

Why Can't You Look Like Me?
by Ola Zuri
Follow along on a young girl's journey as she wonders Why Can't You Look Like Me of those around her. She is an African American girl adopted transracially and feels