{Review} Secret Storms by Julie Mannix von Zerneck & Kathy Hatfield

ISBN #: 978-0985735807

Page Count: 330

Copyright: April 2013

Publisher: Blue Blazer

Description:

(Taken from author's site)

A pregnant, upper class nineteen-year-old Philadelphia Main Line debutante is confined, against her will, to a state mental hospital. She spends her pregnancy surrounded by the mentally challenged and the criminally insane. On April 19, 1964, she gives birth to a child, whom she is forced to give up for adoption.

A loving middle-class couple adopts a month-old little girl from Catholic Charities. She is adored and cherished from the very beginning. It is as though she is dropped into the first chapter of a fairy tale - but we all know how fairy tales go. This is the story of a mother and daughter. Of what it is to give up a child and what it is to be given up. Of what it is to belong, what it is to be a family and what it is to yearn deeply, and to never lose hope - because anything is possible.

Charlene's Review:

Secret Storms is an apt name for the lives of our two authors. Born into an affluent, fame-seeking family, Julie had an extraordinary childhood. After refusing to abort an unplanned pregnancy, 19 year old Julie was sent to a state mental hospital where she remained until the birth of her daughter, Aimee, who was immediately adopted. Kathy spent most of her young life unaware that she was adopted. The death of her mother, and the remarriage of her father changed Kathy's life forever when her stepsister announced that she was adopted.

Secret Storms is an emotion-filled memoir that exposes the intricate forces that exist in adoption. Julie and Kathy lay bare their souls and expose all their pain and frustration in a beautiful, yet heart-wrenching account of searching for their identities, as well as each other. A must read for anyone touched by the pain and separation of adoption.

5 out of 5 stars!