Wonderland: Memoir of a Black Market Adoption

Handed over along a Texas hospital curb in 1970-no judge, no paperwork, no questions asked-Patricia grew up celebrating a made-up birthday, haunted by nightmares of "The Dark Man." Her parents, blackmailed by the attorney they hired to skirt the adoption system, faced an impossible choice: go to the police or pay up. They paid $30,000 to keep their paperless baby.

Navigating her mother's violent alcoholism and caring for her disabled and depressed 600-pound father, Patricia spent her childho...