Growing up as an adoptee and identical twin, Julie McGue will take you on her journey for identity and individuality, searching for answers through tragedy and adversity.

From the award-winning author of Twice a Daughter comes the much- anticipated prequel. In this coming-of-age memoir–set in Chicago’s western suburbs between the 1960s and 80s–adopted twins, Julie and Jenny, provide their parents with an instant family. The twins’ sisterly bond holds tight as the two strive for independence, individuality, and belonging. But as Julie’s parents continue adding children to their family, several painful and tragic experiences test family values, parental relationships, and sibling bonds.

Faced with these hurdles, Julie questions everything—who she is, how she fits in, and even her adoption circumstances. She understands her adoptive family is held together by love, faith, support, and her parents’ commitment to each other and their children.

And yet, the life her parents have constructed is not one Julie wants for herself. As she matures, she chooses her own unique path. In the process, she realizes how the experiences that formed her have provide a road map for the person and mother she wants to be.

Julie Ryan McGue is an American writer, a domestic adoptee, and an identical twin. Her first memoir, Twice a Daughter released in May 2021, won multiple awards. She writes a weekly blog and monthly column (The Beacher Newspapers), in which she explores the topics of finding out who you are, where you belong and making sense of it. Julie splits her time between northwest Indiana and Sarasota, Florida.