The Mistress's Daughter - A.M. Homes

Author A.M. Homes was born to a 22-year-old woman blinded in love by her "boyfriend," who happened to be an older, much married man with a family of his own, and was adopted shortly after birth into a nice family, where she grew up with an older brother.

Homes learned of this adoption at the age of 31. Once her parents dropped the bomb, Homes eventually got in contact with her mother, Ellen, then her father. Her mother turned out to have never lived her life at all - never married, never had more children, really never stopped loving Homes's father, Norman. He, as it turned out, continually lied to Ellen when she was pregnant, telling her he was leaving his wife and family to start fresh with her and their baby, and even moved a pregnant Ellen to Florida with a message that he would soon follow. He never did.

Homes does not feel a connection to her birth mother, and eventually we see why - Ellen is very clingy. When A.M. does not return calls, or refuses to see her, Ellen continuously calls wondering why and when they can meet. Norman, however, makes A.M. submit to a DNA test before he will have anything to do with her. She and her father do meet a couple of times, but eventually he wants nothing to do with her.

Homes becomes obsessed with her birth parents' family history, and pays several hundred dollars and many years obtaining genealogy details. Her constant quest for information consumed a large portion of the book, but it was rather interesting the history she was able to piece together, through data, through joining websites, to researching in libraries, to exchanging emails with distance relatives. She finally hit a roadblock when her father refused to produce a copy of the DNA test she submitted to, a document which she needs to provide to become a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She speaks to several lawyers, even considers suing her father to prove that he's her father, but decides to let it go.

And we leave her with the knowledge of her own little girl, Juliet. I do recommend this book; it's short and quick and really well written. Very interesting, considering all the details she obtains about her lineage. And sometimes witty. I just love memoirs.