Twice a Daughter

Title: Twice a Daughter
Author: Julie Ryan McGue
Major Themes: Adoption, Geneology, Twins
Synopsis: When she began looking for her birth parents at the age of 48, Julie and her twin sister had no idea where the search would end up.

I noticed Twice a Daughter in an advertisement recently, and was very interested in it. I was delighted to find it in a digital library we use, and enjoyed reading it. I found this book so interesting that my daughter gave me a hard time about how much time I spent reading for a couple of days!

Julie was nearly 50 when she started having significant health issues. Her husband urged her to attempt to try to locate her birth parents, in order to get her medical history. She knew her adoptive parents would not be happy that she wanted to find her birth parents, but with the support of her twin sister, she began the search. Many disappointments and surprises were in store for them.

What kind of mother would give up perfect newborn twin girls for adoption? What had happened in her life that she couldn’t keep her daughters? Where was the twin’s biological father? And why had they been told several things that turned out not to be true? Many questions went through Julie’s mind, all the way through the long, eight-year search. Not all the questions were answered—and the answers to some were disappointing. Others, however, had wonderful answers, as the search brought a mixture of excitement and pain.

Twice a Daughter is very well-written. I really enjoyed reading it, and found that, though it is a memoir, it reads like a novel. Anyone who is interested in adoption, or simply reading about a person’s life, will enjoy this book. I found it fascinating to learn the details of a search for birth parents. I also found it interesting to read about life from a Catholic perspective. Most books I read are from a Protestant Christian perspective. I noticed that, while it was important to the author that she had been baptized as a baby, faith played a very small part, if any, in her life.

WARNING: The word “damn” appears a few times. I didn’t realize till I finished the book, though, that I could highlight anything. I don’t remember anything else objectionable.

——————
Related posts:

Eight Was Enough A House With Holes Made for Brave Survivor