With Gratitude

Over the last decade, I managed to create and publish more content,  stories, books, essays, and articles than I would ever have thought lived inside me. It’s a curious thing. Each piece, whether it was a family tale, an aspect of adoption, a quirky moment, or a book revealing personal history has often felt like my very first piece of writing. 

I am grateful and proud that Twice the Family joined my first memoir, Twice a Daughter, at She Writes Press under the leadership of Brooke Warner and project manager Addison Gallegos. I attribute the finesse of each chapter to the learned talents of Deb Engle from Story Summit. Without Deb’s stewardship, I might still be floundering with early drafts, unclear themes, and foggy through threads. It takes an able team to put out a credible manuscript and I feel fortunate to have some of the best talent in the business behind my book.

It is no accident that the book’s release coincides with my birthday this month, for this important date is where Twice the Family begins. An adoptee’s birthday marks a pivotal point in their life, a monumental shift in belonging from first family to adoptive family. This choice, one made for the adopted child by biological parents—despite valid reasons and good intentions— challenges the adoptee’s sense of identity, family and belonging for a lifetime. 

For most people, a birthday marks a celebratory occasion. But for adoptees, joy and loss walk side by side. And for our birth parents, it is a day marked less by delight, and more about loss, perhaps deep-seated regrets. Outside of that, for our adoptive parents, our birthday connotes celebration and exultation due to the building of family. Twice the Family incorporates the magnitude of all these emotions and moments, and so much more. 

Patricia Meyer, author of My Adopted Life blog, wrote this review (condensed). I thank her for her careful read and honesty. 

“TWICE THE ADOPTION MEMOIR: An Adoptee Twin Doubles Down on Her Adoption Story”

As a small child, I fantasized that I had a twin somewhere in the world. That we’d been separated at birth, and one day I would find her, and that the hole I felt in my being would be filled. Although reunions of separated twins happen, it turned out that was not my story. The big hole I felt, like that left behind in the hearts of many adoptees, was simply due to separation from my first mother. Though a twin and an adoptee, luckily this was not memoirist Julie McGue’s story either. She and her twin sister Jenny would be kept together and adopted by a couple looking to build a big and loving Catholic family. 

One can never know what it is to be an adoptee, or a twin, unless you are one. Few can know what it is to be both. My initial feeling picking up her first book, “Twice a Daughter” (2021), was envy. Julie, an adoptee, got to grow up with not only a full sibling but her twin — someone to mirror her, share and understand her primal wound, a soul mate to lean on and confide in. Yet when I read that she and her sister were the oldest in a family that seemed to never stop growing, I thought again. Raised as an only child, I would have struggled to share my parents’ affections with other children, especially biological ones. 

While I loved Julie’s first book, I looked forward to her new prequel “Twice the Family,” which takes readers back to the formative years that shaped Julie’s understanding of family, adoption and identity…. Julie does not disappoint, as she peels back the layers of her childhood to find who she is separate from her adoptive family, and, yes, even her twin sister Jenny. 

This memoir also shines in its exploration of twin identity within the context of adoption. Julie deftly portrays how she and her sister maintained their close bond while struggling to individuate. I especially appreciated Julie’s exploration of how hard it is to claim one’s personal identity as an adoptee, let alone when both you and your sister are twin adoptees. 

As she questions everything—her identity, her place within the family, her adoption circumstances, her faith and differences from her sister and family—she gradually builds a blueprint for the person and mother she wants to become, even if it means choosing a path distinctly different from her parents’ rigid expectations.

Even without adoption in the mix, this memoir is a compelling family saga of love, loss and search for self. Julie transforms personal tragedy into universal insight into the nature of family and belonging and offers a unique perspective on the intersection of twin identity and adoption experiences.

At its core “Twice the Family” offers readers a deeper understanding of how relinquishment shapes our quest for identity and belonging. Together with “Twice a Daughter” and “Belonging Matters,” it is an invaluable contribution to the literature centered on adoption, family, and self-discovery.

News & Follow Me Here

February 18: Julie will appear in-person at Anderson’s Bookstore in Downers Grove, IL to discuss her new book, answer questions, and sign books. Space is limited. To attend the event, please register here.

February 26: Julie will present a workshop on memoir, “So You Want to Write That Story,” at the St. Pete Beach Public Library from 1-3 PM.

March 1: Julie will be Max Bowen’s guest on the Citywide Blackout Radio Show.

March 6: Julie will be Irene Weisberg’s guest on the Grief & Rebirth Podcast.

March 11: Virtual Author Panel: Inside the Adoption Experience: Expert Authors Discussing Adoption’s Impact featuring Julie McGue, Diane Wheaton, Simone Knego, Laura Engle, and moderated by Diane Dewey at 4PT/5 MT/6 CT/7 ET Free via zoom with registration, here.

March 14-16, 2025, Julie will attend the Tucson Festival of Books. You can find her in the Adoptee Authors booth where she will be signing her books.

March 21, 2025, Julie will be signing and selling books to benefit the Longboat Key Library at J McLaughlin’s on Longboat Key. Come out and show your support at this popular “Sip ‘n Shop” event.

Follow Julie by visiting her website, subscribe to her bimonthly newsletters, and listen to previous podcast recordings where she discusses topics like adoption, identity, and belonging.

Here are a few links to recent interviews, podcasts, and articles, Julie has published:

ARTICLES:

• https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-nonfiction
• https://brevity.wordpress.com/2025/01/30/a-medium-informed-my-memoir/#comment-229656
• https://severancemag.com/why-the-details-on-your-obr-matter-a-lot/
• https://www.adopting.com/adoption-article/the-big-three-questions-adoptees-think-about
• https://www.idsnews.com/article/2025/01/q-and-a-julie-ryan-mcgue-author

INTERVIEWS / PODCASTS:

• Julie’s interview with Uncorking a Story
• Interview with Behind Beautiful Things
• Her interview with Tammy Vincent on the Adult Child of Dysfunction podcast. Listen Here Now

REVIEWS:

• The review with Chick Who Reads Everything
• IG reviews from Books Read by Prairie Girl and Jordan Little Free Library

PRESENTATION:

• Link to view Julie’s presentation for NAAP on 2/7: Writing Family History: Secrets & Bonds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YFMbLNr_u8

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