"Twice Born is an eloquent book." - Psychology Today Twice Born {MEMOIRS OF AN ADOPTED DAUGHTER} By Betty Jean Lifton Betty Jean Lifton, acclaimed author of several books on the psychology of the adopted that have helped open the field, tells her own story of growing up adopted in the closed adoption system. Calling Twice Born both an autobiography and psychological journey into the past, Lifton takes the reader with her as she describes the loneliness and isolation of an adopted child cut off from the knowledge of her heritage. She explores the ambivelence and guilt that she feels toward her adoptive parents when she awakens as an adult to her need to ask: Who am I? With the mounting suspense of a detective novel, Twice Born explores not only the difficulty of searching for one's past when one's records are sealed, but also the complexity of trying to reunite with the birth mother from whom one has been seperated by societal taboos - and by time. More than a vivid and poignant memoir, Lifton has given us a story of mothering and mother-loss, attachment and bonding, secrets and lies, and the human need for origins. Important reading for anyone touched by these issues and by the experience of adoption-which is everyone. "A personal account of the painful problems caused by the adopted child's aloneness among his or her contemporaries and the need (often suppressed) to know of, even to find, the biological parents." - The New York Times Book Review "Deeply stirring...important and enriching."- Elie Wiesel Betty Jean Lifton is a writer, psychologist, and one of the nation's leading advocated for adoption reform. Her books include: Journey of the Adopted Self: A Quest for Wholeness, Lost and Found: The Adoption Experience, and The King of Children: The Life and Death of Janusz Korczak. She has lectured widely, in this country and abroad, and has an adoption counseling practice in New York City. Published by: St. Martin's Griffin, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y., 10010 { Back }