The Girl with Three Birthdays

An Adopted Daughter’s Memoir of Tiaras, Tough Truths, and Tall Tales

by Patti Eddington

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Pub Date 7 May 2024 | Archive Date 25 Apr 2024

She Writes Press

Biographies & Memoirs | Parenting & Families

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Description

Patti Eddington always knew she was adopted, and her beloved parents seemed amenable enough to questions—but she never wanted to hurt them by expressing curiosity, so she didn’t. The story of her mother cutting off and dying her hair when she was a toddler? She thought it was eccentric and funny, nothing more. When she discovered at fifteen that her birthday wasn’t actually her birthday? She believed it when her mother said she’d changed it to protect her from the “nosy old biddies” who might try to discover her identity.

It wasn’t until decades later, when a genealogy test led Patti to her biological family (including an aunt with a shocking story) and the discovery of yet another birthday, that she really began to integrate what she thought she knew about her origins. Determined to know the truth, she finally petitioned a court to unseal records that had been locked up for almost sixty years—and began to put the pieces of her past together, bit by painstaking bit.

Framed by a brief but poignant 1963 “Report of Investigation” based on a caseworker’s one-day visit to Patti’s childhood home, The Girl With Three Birthdays tells the story of an adoptee who always believed she was the answer to a couple’s seventeen-year journey to become parents, until a manila envelope from a rural county court arrived and caused her to question . . . everything.

Advance Praise

“. . . Heart wrenching and life affirming . . . a story that will move you to tears and question what you believe.” —Wade Rouse, USA Today best-selling author of Magic Season

“In this novel-esque memoir, Patti Eddington does a masterful job piecing together fragments of her mysterious life. The Girl with Three Birthdays begins with conflicting birth records and takes us on a roller coaster quest for true identity and the meaning of family. A penetrating account of adoption, tightly held secrets, and the power of love, told with dogged honesty and heart.” —Laura Whitfield, author of Untethered

“With enchanting details, luminous coloring, and a masterful balance of fact, humor, and lush writing, Patti Eddington lures readers into her indelible story and hugs them tight, sharing her most vulnerable self. A nimble, courageous, and entrancing memoir.” —Chad V. Broughman, author of The Fall of Bellwether

“Part love letter to her adoptive parents, part origin story with the pacing of a whodunit, The Girl with Three Birthdays is full of wry humor and vivid details of small town Michigan girlhood. I was rooting for Patti and her family all the way.” —Amy Rigby, author of Girl to City

“. . . gripping story of filial identity found, lost, then found again is compelling reading . . . Beautiful, heart-wrenching and ultimately life-affirming.” —Michael Zadoorian, author of The Leisure Seeker

“. . . Heart wrenching and life affirming . . . a story that will move you to tears and question what you believe.” —Wade Rouse, USA Today best-selling author of Magic Season

“In this novel-esque...