My Mother My Daughter

A small 4x4-inch sealed envelope, a letter from Germany, sat on my desk. It's been untouched for days. I knew who sent it. I wanted to open it, but I was afraid of how it might change my life. Flashbacks of my young life colored the envelope black. The weight on my chest grew heavier, and as much as I wanted to get rid of the heft, I was more at ease keeping the suffocating weight than reading the likely contents of the letter. With no ability to understand the suffocating weight on my chest since childhood, I spent a lifetime working my way back to the beginning in a tiny German village and a mother whom I never knew was waiting for me. Born and abandoned in Germany, reared in America, Marita Malone couldn't escape the suffocating weight on her chest despite a lifetime of successes both professionally and academically without the help of a sympathetic nun and a journey home to the family that gave her up. Indeed, it is a book that touches the heart of mothers and daughters, adopted adults, and anyone who seeks answers to life-long questions. It's a book that touches all readers.