Finding Loretta: An Adopted Daughter’s Search to Define Family

For fans of Dani Shapiro’s Inheritance and Nicole Chung’s All You Can Ever Know, a debut memoir from a mid-life adoptee who, just as she’s meeting biological family for the first time, unearths a secret kept from her for years by her adoptive parents.

Adopted as an infant by a naval officer and his wife during the Baby Scoop Era, Diane Wheaton has always heard conflicting versions of the truth of her origins--but it’s not until she is forty-seven years old that she begins to search for her biological family in earnest. Amid search and reunion, however, Diane’s adoptive parents become ill--and while overseeing their care, she is told about a secret they have kept from her for over fifteen years. This shocking disclosure complicates her already complicated feelings for them, and she finds herself faced with an important decision--one that feels almost impossible to make, but which results in a level of healing she never could have anticipated.

A touching memoir of self-discovery, Finding Loretta is Diane’s tale of searching for history, roots, and family. Ultimately, she comes to accept the two distinct dynamics of the families who have helped make her who she is today, and in doing so she learns to embrace herself and feel grateful for everything she has experienced--even loss.

Diane Wheaton, a reunited adoptee, is a wife, mother, and grandmother. When she’s not writing, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, as well as reading, painting, gardening, and swimming. She is a member of The National Association of Memoir Writers and was a contributing author to the AN-YA Project’s adult adoptee anthology Flip the Script. A native Californian, Diane lives with her husband and their Alaskan Malamute in Santa Clarita, California.