May the Circle Be Unbroken: An Intimate Journey Into the Heart of Adoption

By Lynn C. Franklin

Book Overview

May the Circle Be Unbrokenis both a poignant memoir of a woman who reunited with a child she gave up for adoption and a no-nonsense book that gives readers an intelligent and well-informed approach to adoption. The two are woven seamlessly into a complex and engaging story that is, in fact, many stories from many people that form a complete picture of the varied and often fulfilling experience of adoption. In the 1960s, when she was an unmarried college sophomore, Lynn Franklin surrendered her newborn son for adoption. Using her own story as a point of departure, Franklin examines the changing face of adoption and explores the uncertainties and emotions that surround it with rare honesty and perception. Moving and enlightened,May the Circle Be Unbrokenwill prove invaluable for readers concerned with the practical, emotional, and legal aspects of adoption, whether they are thinking of making an adoption plan for their child or hoping to be chosen as suitable parents for someone else's child. Franklin demystifies adoption and offers essential comfort to those who have felt, firsthand, the impact of adoption on their lives. She has dialogues with children of adoption who discuss the struggle to come to terms with their feelings of loss and abandonment and the difficulty of forging an identity without knowing their biological heritage. She gives equal time to those who became parents through an abundance of human affection rather than by biology, by audition rather than chance. Franklin covers the changing face of adoption and virtually every possible form of adoption, but, perhaps most important, she speaks to adoptees wondering if they should search for their mothers and to women who have relinquished a child and are wondering if they are emotionally able to reconnect. While her own powerful story anchors the book, it is her voice as a birth mother that will distinguish this book from others on the subject. It will also resonate emotionally for people who have no individual experience of adoption, but who, like any of us, struggle with the universal issues of loss, identity, and personal reconciliation. Since finding her son, Franklin has come to know his wife and children, who also have become an important part of her life. In so doing, she has closed one of life's most precious circles.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0517707551
• ISBN13: 9780517707555
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: Harmony
• Length: 290 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.0" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Heartwarming!

As an adoptee fortunate enough to find her birthparents (and therefore being familiar with all aspects of the triad), I found Lynn C. Franklin's book excellent. I have read many books about adoption, this one outshines them all. It was not overly clinical or statistical and was written with compassion, heart and objectivity. Adoption is such a complex topic, this is not an accomplishment to be taken lightly. Ms. Franklin's candid personal reflections of the search for her son stirred emotions deep within this reader and in my opinion brings greater understanding to everyone who has been touched by adoption or is interested in the subject. She gives voice to birthparents, adoptees and adoptive parents and their struggles with depth and kindness and backs it up with facts and experience. I am grateful to her for her efforts.

A must read for anyone touched by Adoption

Lynn Franklin touches on all sides of the triad in this book. It really gave me some insight into my true feelings on being adopted. My adoptive mother, and birth mother have all read it and loved it.

the best book about the adoption triad

I am both an adoptee and a birthmother. I recently started reading every book about adoption I can get my hands on. My adoptive mother has read this book too and it has helped both her and me to understand some of the things that bothered me while I was growing up. I gave my daughter up in an open adoption and I'm sending her adoptive parents a copy of this book to help them understand some of her concerns and thoughts about being an adoptee. I'm also hoping it will help their family understand why I have such a hard time staying in touch with them.This is by far the most informative book I've read and would recommend it to any adoptee, birthmother, adoptive family or anyone thinking about adopting a child.

a thoughtful, well-rounded discussion of a difficult subject

As a successfully reunited adoptee who is close to her parents and her birthmother, I find that adoption literature often lacks full perspective. Adoptees, birth parents and adoptive parents are portrayed in many cases as beleaguered heroes/heroines, pathetic victims or manipulative and uncaring villians."May the Circle be Unbroken" provides a more realistic view, fully considering what each member of the triad experiences at the time of placement and at the time of search and (possibly) reunion. It presents a clear, mature and sane description of what one might encounter during different stages of the triad's lifetime. The birthmother author presents a fully-realized description of her own agony at relinquishment without slipping into self-pity. She has a strong grasp on the feelings of the adoptee and adoptive parent as well, yet she acknowledges that everyone's experience is different. Theories (such as the "Primal Wound") are presented as conjecture and possibility rather than fact.The firm grounding provided by this clear-eyed presentation could be extraordinarily useful to help birthmothers to heal, to aid adoptive parents in understanding the challenges they may face and to prepare all three "sides" to cope with the unexpected joys and traumas assoociated with search and reunion. Franklin helps each person touched by adoption by arming them with a full perspective and letting them know that they are not alone.

a well-researched and informative book

Thanks for a well-researched, well-written, and very informative book. As an adoptive parent, I have been looking for something like this to give my family and friends that would explain the numerous issues involved in a way that is both educational and helpful. And as my 9 yr old daughter gets older, your book will offer help as well to her and my wife and as we wrestle with what to tell her. (We had an open adoption and have told our daughter from the earliest time that she is adopted.)