She Turned Her Head Away: An Adoption Memoir

Patricia Moffat was not an abused child, nor was she separated at a young age from her original culture. Yet, growing up in the closed adoption system in northern California, Patricia always felt a yawning gap at the beginning of her life, and a sense of loss and sadness. She yearned to know who her birthmother was, and why she had given her away. In her twenties, after an abortion and the births of her two children, which pulled her back emotionally to her beginnings, she became filled with determination to find her original family.

In the late 1970s, there was no internet to help, or genetic testing companies, or even adoption registries where today birthparents and adoptees can often connect quickly. Patricia’s search was done by old-fashioned sleuthing with just a few clues, including her birthmother’s last name, to go on. Her successful search and reunion brought happiness as well as difficulties. The reunion with her birthmother and family was joyous, but Patricia’s adoptive mother felt threatened by the sudden appearance of another mother in their lives.

She Turned Her Head Away is a memoir that speaks powerfully of the emotions commonly felt by adopted children and adult adoptees, of questions of identity, and experiences of family and belonging. It is especially relevant today, as commercial genetic testing companies can reveal family secrets and uncover emotions that may have been buried for years. She Turned Her Head Away is a heart-stopping story that is hard to put down.