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Twice a Daughter
A Search for Identity, Family, and Belonging
by Julie Ryan McGue
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RELEASE DATE: May 11, 2021. Published in the U.S. by She Writes Press
PUBLICIST: Jenn Vance / jennifer@booksforward.com / https://booksforward.com/
PRESS KIT: Download here.
Awards
- 2023 Honorable Mention in BooksShelf’s Nonfiction Writing Contest
- 2022 16th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist in Parenting & Family
- 2022 International Book Awards Winner in Parenting & Family
- 2022 International Book Awards Finalist in Best New Nonfiction, Nonfiction: Narrative, and Women’s Issues / Women’s Studies
- 2022 Independent Press Awards Distinguished Favorite in Parenting & Family
- 2022 Indiana Press Award Winner in Memoir
- 2021 CIBA Nellie Bly Book Awards Finalist
- 2021 NYC Big Book Awards Winner in Personal Growth
- 2021 NYC Big Book Awards Distinguished Favorite in Parenting & Family
- 2021 Living Now Awards Gold Winner in Memoir—Female
- 2021 Nonfiction Book Awards Silver Winner in Biography & Memoir—General
- 2021 Readers’ Favorite Book Awards Honorable Mention in Non-Fiction: Relationships
- Twice a Daughter, received first place in autobiography/memoir category
- Two monthly columns, That Girl This Life, written for The Beacher Newspapers received first place: “The Happiest Moment” & “My Mother’s Words.”
- An essay, “Why Now, Why Not, and Why Wait,” (published on Adoption.com) received first place for personal essay
- Another essay, “Closed Adoption: A Legal Magic Eraser” (published on Imprint.com) received first place for opinion/editorial.
Julie loves Book Clubs!
Download the Twice a Daughter Book Group Discussion Kit here.
Contact Julie to chat with your Book Club about Twice a Daughter here.
What does it mean to grow up without a sense of who you are and where you come from? To age without family medical history?
“An engaging, endearing chronicle of a woman’s quest to find her origins.”
– Kirkus Reviews
“With reverence for mystery, Julie Ryan McGue navigates a silence among family known and unknown to unearth her identity. Twice a Daughter is an act of patience and courage—the courage to confront the past and the patience to endure the path towards revelation. Weaving together humor and pathos, McGue’s tale of redemption offers hope to anyone seeking to know and be known as they truly are.”
– Jonathan Callard, writer and teacher at the University of Pittsburgh
“McGue sought answers about her unknown family history for medical reasons, but also for clues pertaining to her own identity. She found some of the answers, but had to accept that others remained beyond her reach. I enjoyed the experience of peeking into the personal lives of her family, during a very emotional journey. Twice a Daughter is a testament to evolving social norms, eradicating the former shame of illicit pregnancy, and a recognition of family bonds.” Read more >>
— Story Circle Book Reviews
“Rarely does an adoptee rights advocate and legislator have the chance to witness the results of their efforts in such a profound and personal way as in Twice a Daughter. Julie’s success in opening her sealed adoption records did not just gratify and inspire, it lifted me up! Every adoptee deserves to know their identity, the first chapter of their life, and the circumstances of their birth. It is their personal story and a basic human right. Keep up the fight!”
– Sara Feigenholtz, adoptee and Illinois State Senator
“When Julie finds herself facing several health issues at the age of forty-eight, she must take a deep look into her past to find out her true family history. Julie and her sister are adopted twins and lack a proper health history and adoption documentation. This proves to become a huge problem for Julie who has serious medical issues. Together with her sister, Julie decides to locate her birth parents. When the sisters approach their adoptive parents with questions, they aren’t enthusiastic about their kids wanting to look for their birth parents. This is the first of many obstacles Julie faces as she spends eight long years with a search agency, a private investigator, an adoption agency, a genealogist, and a judge to uncover the secret behind her biological parents. Julie’s journey leads her to the medical history she sought and gives her answers to questions about her past that leave her astonished and floored!
Twice a Daughter: A Search for Identity, Family, and Belonging is a marvelous book about a woman seeking answers and struggling on the path of self-discovery. With courage, strength and never-ending compassion, this personal story about an adopted pair of sisters is told with grace. From wrestling with heartbreak, pain, rejection, and acceptance within oneself and the outside world, the book demonstrates the harsh realities faced by adoptees of a closed adoption. This memoir will take you on an emotional rollercoaster and move you to tears. A page-turning read that is as affecting as it is superbly written, this memoir is a page-turner. If you are looking for a warm and emotional holiday read, Twice a Daughter: A Search for Identity, Family, and Belonging is just the book for you!”
– Romuald Dzemo, The Book Commentary
“Julie McGue’s quest memoir is an extraordinary account of a woman’s mid-life search for her birth parents and the medical history she and her twin sister desperately need. Julie engagingly narrates a roller coaster ride of challenges and triumphs. I was moved by this suspenseful tale that ultimately celebrates the meaning of family in all its forms.”
– Joelle Fraser, author of The Territory of Men and The Forest House
“This book is about lies and secrets, disappointment and loss, and hope and wonder. A true story that details how the pursuit of truth and healing becomes the alchemy that turns pain into gold.”
– Sara Connell, author of Bringing In Finn.
Julie is adopted. She’s also a twin. Because their adoption was closed, she and her sister lack both a health history and their birth parents’ names—which becomes an issue for Julie when, at forty-eight years old, she finds herself facing several serious health issues.
To launch the probe into her closed adoption, Julie first needs the support of her sister. The twins talk things over and make a pact: Julie will approach their adoptive parents for the adoption paperwork and investigate search options, and the sisters will split the costs involved in locating their birth relatives. But their adoptive parents aren’t happy that their daughters want to locate their birth parents—and that is only the first of many obstacles Julie will come up against as she digs into her background.
Julie’s search for her birth relatives spans five years and involves a search agency, a PI, a confidential intermediary, a judge, an adoption agency, a social worker, and a genealogist. By journey’s end, what began as a simple desire for a family medical history has evolved into a complicated quest—one that unearths secrets, lies, and family members that are literally right next door.
“Why didn’t my birth mother keep me? Was I a bad baby? Do I have siblings? What about my medical history? These are some of the universal questions asked by adoptees both young and old. Although a memoir, Twice a Daughter is also the tale of every adoptee’s search for answers, connection, relationship, and family. It’s a must-read for all members of the adoption triad: birth parents, adoptive parents, and adoptees.“
– Nancy Golden, co-founder of the Midwest Adoption Center
“A masterful storyteller, Julie Ryan McGue probes her inner life as one of an adopted pair of twin sisters who are on a search for biological roots in their big, fun Irish Catholic adoptive family. In Twice a Daughter, the road to genetic connection may be fraught with hidden roadblocks, but the destinations open up to the widest horizons of the heart – authenticity, courage, wholeness, and compassion.”
– Diane Dewey, author of Fixing the Fates: An Adoptee’s Story of Truth and Lies
“Julie conveys the range of emotions felt by adopted persons who yearn for answers and connection with biological relatives. She allows the reader access to her most private experiences of vulnerability, pain, fear, anger, and joy. This book reminds us that there are losses, both ambiguous and clear, at the foundation of adoption. They are experienced differently by birth parents, adopted persons, adoptive parents, and other family members. There is power in sharing these accounts with others, and much to be gained by learning to listen to someone’s most deeply felt experiences.“
– Lisa Francis, LCSW, Post Adoption Services, Catholic Charities, Chicago.
“Julie McGue entered the labyrinth of her adoption search with many questions—Who am I? Where did I come from? What tribe do I belong to? Her memoir is not just another tale of an adoptee’s search for truth. Her craft and candor turn this into an inspirational story of perseverance and resiliency, one with well-deserved payoffs. Ultimately, this is a story about the discoveries that searching for the truth reveals, how it sets you free and offers the gift of love.”
– Linda Joy Myers, founder of the National Association of Memoir Writers, author of Don’t Call Me Mother
“Twice a Daughter is an enchanting story about searching and fighting for hidden information and what it means to be adopted- to wrestle with love, pain, rejection, and acceptance. We can all find pieces of our own stories reflected in Julie’s compelling words. This is a must read for everyone–especially those touched by adoption.“
– Linda Fiore, Director of Adoption Center for Family Building
Twice a Daughter has been placed on the Adoptee Reading List, a site where books are written and recommended by adoptees.
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Julie Ryan McGue is an American writer, a domestic adoptee, and an identical twin. Her first memoir, Twice a Daughter: A Search for Identity, Family, and Belonging, released in May 2021, won multiple awards. Her work has appeared in the Story Circle Network Journal, Brevity Nonfiction Blog, Imprint News, Adoption.com, Lifetime Adoption Adoptive Families Blog, Adoption & Beyond, and Severance Magazine. Her personal essays have appeared in several anthologies, including Real Women Write: Seeing Through Her Eyes (Story Circle Network) and Art in the Time of Unbearable Crisis (She Writes Press). Her collection of essays, Belonging Matters: Conversations on Adoption, Family, and Kinship (Muse Literary) was released in November 2023. She writes a weekly blog and monthly column (The Beacher Newspapers), in which she explores the topics of finding out who you are, where you belong and making sense of it.
Julie splits her time between northwest Indiana and Sarasota, Florida.
“Twice a Daughter” Sneak Peak
Receive the first chapter of my award winning new release, “Twice a Daughter: The Search for Identify, Family and Belonging,” available now wherever books are sold.
