What Kind of Mother: A Memoir

A moving memoir that offers a vital new perspective on adoption—from the rarely glimpsed birth mother’s point of view.

What kind of mother gives up her son? Bernadette Murphy grew up the “miracle child” of her immigrant Irish Catholic family, arriving unexpectedly after her mother’s difficulty conceiving and her parents’ adoption of her older brother. Three more siblings followed, and as her once-glamorous mother sank deeper into depression, and her father struggled to support the family, Be...