Memoirs, Non-fiction

A Woman’s Search For Her Roots – A Truly Touching Story Twice a Daughter, A Search for Identity, Family, and Belonging by Julie Ryan McGue

I thought Twice a Daughter would be a slow evening read – since it’s an audio, I’d listen for a half an hour each evening and be done within the month. Was I mistaken! Finished it in less than a week. Several evenings, and it would have taken even less, had I had more time in the past few days to finish it up. It wasn’t for lack of wanting to! The book really drew me in and I just couldn’t stop.

Twice a Daughter, A Search for Identity, Family, and Belonging by Julie Ryan McGue

Check out on Goodreads
★★★★✬ 4.5 stars
How I read this:
free ebook copy from publicist

In short, Twice a Daughter by Julie Ryan McGue is a true story about a woman’s search for her biological parents. What starts off as a quest for her medical history and a hope not to attach herself to what she finds, ends up as a search for her roots, a search for belonging and a story of true, frankly quite wild synchronicity – a story of how odd, sometimes even almost magical real destinies can be.

It’s written well, and I enjoyed the narration too. The author is open and sincere, and it just draws you into her and her sister’s story. While they grew up with wonderful adoptive parents and raised children of their own, had good lives – there was still always that question of who they truly were, and where their roots were. Spurred by some medical trouble and hoping to get access to family medical records, the author braves a closed adoption search to find her real mother and father.

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An image of the cover of Twice a Daughter on a phone, as an audiobook, it’s leaning against some other books and a bouquet of dried flowers, there are candies and necklaces around it; Photo by AvalinahsBooks

This book is full of ups and downs. I had FEELINGS on the part of the sisters, and even though I finished the book already, I still have those same feelings regarding some of the stuff that happened. I simply couldn’t stay a passive reader.

The story really does draw you in. And it makes you realize how lucky you truly are, if you’ve never had to ask yourself the questions these women had to ask themselves. The author goes through some emotions and reasonings a lot of us will never have had the chance to feel, and she explains it all very well. So this book is kind of an experience, not just an evening or two reading.

Also, I have to say – what a story. Truly, how unbelievable some coincidences in it were! Stories like this make you wonder, were those REALLY coincidences? Or maybe there’s more to the world than we can see and understand? Otherwise, how can these stories work out better than even the craziest movie scripts?

Overall...

Twice a Daughter is definitely worth a read (or as in my case, a listen). It’s a very good book and it may remind you how odd real life can sometimes be – almost better than a fantastic movie script. It’s a touching story as well.

Twice a Daughter is a story of how odd, sometimes even almost magical real destinies can be. Read more about this touching story: Click To Tweet

I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.

Twice a Daughter, A Search for Identity, Family, and Belonging by Julie Ryan McGue