Lucky Girl

I just finished reading Lucky Girl by Mei-Ling Hopgood and really enjoyed it. As an adoptive parent, reading experiences of adult adoptees helps me gain the adoptee’s perspective.

It is the memoir of a Taiwanese girl adopted at 8 months old (in 1974) by a family in Michigan who went on to adopt two sons from Korea. She is contacted through the hospital that arranged her adoption to tell her that her birth family wants to contact her. She has 6 biological sisters and a brother adopted by the birth parents, 5 sisters live with the birth family, the other sister was adopted by a family in Switzerland.

The story is of her multiple trips to Taiwan and getting to know her birth family and Swiss sister. Her Korean brothers also get to go back to Korea.

All in all, it is an interesting insight into the mind of an adoptee. She doesn't seem to have the longing for her birth family as some adoptees do, but finds the similarities and differences with her sisters self affirming. She credits her comfort in her adoptive family to the fact that adoption was always considered a fact of who she was and never hidden or disrespected.

If you’ve read this book, what part of her experience made an impact with you?

Nancy Williams

Nancy Williams is the Human Resources Assoicate Director for Love Without Boundaries. She lives in Cleveland, OH area with her husband, Reese, and two daughters, Elizabeth age 7, and Sarah, age 5, both adopted from Guangdong Province.