Recommended Reading: Exploring Self-Empowerment, Identity, and Lost Lineage
Books can offer education, reflection, and resonance for those navigating questions of identity and lineage. Whether you are seeking personal empowerment, deeper insight into identity disruption, or historical context around family separation, these selections share varied perspectives on resilience, self-discovery, and meaning-making. This collection is shared as part of our community resources and is intended to accompany individual reflection and peer support spaces.
Memoirs
Memoirs offer firsthand accounts of lived experience, illuminating the long-term impact of separation from one’s origins. These narratives explore themes of loss, discovery, identity, and resilience, offering opportunities for recognition, reflection, and connection for readers navigating similar paths. This selection is shared as part of our community resources.
Ancestry Discoveries: What Happens Under the Sheets Doesn't Stay There – Annette L. Becklund
Junkyard Girl: A Memoir of Ancestry, Family Secrets, and Second Chances – Carlyn Montes De Oca
Who's My Daddy?: A Tale of DNA Surprises and Discovery – Joel Gottfried
Forbidden Roots: A Memoir of Late-Discovery Adoption – Fred Nicora
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love – Dani Shapiro
The Foundling: The True Story of a Kidnapping, a Family Secret, and My Search for the Real Me – Paul Joseph Fronczak, Alex Tresniowski
Blank: A Memoir: The Year I Felt the Humming in My DNA – Patricia Havens
Exposed By DNA: A Path to Reveal Family Secrets – K. S. Hopkins
Normal Family: On Truth, Love, and How I Met My 35 Siblings – Chrysta Bilton
I Had My Underwear On The Entire Time: A Memoir of Discovering Family through Genetic Genealogy – Michael Blair, Amy Blair
Redeemed: Lessons About Anger From the Holy Educated Muthaf*cka – Dr. Nicole Price
Uncovering Paternal Roots: Navigating the Unexpected Journey of DNA Surprises – Victoria Patterson
A Life Half Told: Unraveling my story through DNA – William Aperance, Courtney Aperance
The Lost Family: How DNA Testing Is Upending Who We Are – Libby Copeland
DNA Testing Surprise: Non-Parental Event – Charles Hirschbeck, Steven Charles Hirschfeld
Dancing Around the Truth – Christine Jacobsen
The Stranger in My Genes: A Memoir – Bill Griffeth
Strangers No More: A Sequel to The Stranger in My Genes – Bill Griffeth
Folksong: A Ballad of Death, Discovery, and DNA – Cory Goodrich
Unexpected Family: a DNA story – Kiana Webb
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Help Us Grow Our Recommended Reading List
We aim to curate a diverse and thoughtful collection of books shared as part of our community resources, reflecting self-empowerment, identity exploration, and the lived realities of family separation. If a book has been meaningful to you and feels aligned with this space, we welcome your recommendation.
Community input helps ensure this reading list reflects a wide range of voices and perspectives. You’re invited to email your book suggestions as we continue building a shared resource that supports reflection, learning, and connection within our peer support spaces.