The Search

About the Book

“A compelling story of an adopted woman’s search for her truth and a mother lost, found, and lost again. The Search is a poignant memoir of the reality of an adoptee’s life. I couldn’t put it down.”
JOE SOLL, LCSW, PSYCHOTHERAPIST, AUTHOR OF ADOPTION HEALING…A PATH TO RECOVERY

_ Titia Ellis remembers the exact moment her life changed forever. Her mother, still in her dressing gown, sat in the chair opposite five-year-old Titia and her older sister, twisting a handkerchief between her hands, while her father paced the floor behind her. Titia’s stomach rolled over as her mother announced, “Daddy and I want to tell you something important about when you were born.”

As soon as she learns the story of her birth parents’ untimely deaths and her subsequent adoption, Titia realizes that her adoption is to be kept a secret—never to be discussed again out of fear of upsetting her mother. Wanting to be loved and to fit in, she obeys her parents’ wishes—until a mid-life crisis shatters her illusion of being the perfect daughter, wife, and mother. As Titia chronicles her poignant journey to find her birth mother, she details how she jeopardizes her relationship with her adoptive parents and threatens the privacy of unsuspecting strangers—all without any guarantee of a happy outcome.

When Titia embarks on her quest to find her birth family, she immerses herself deep into her past, not knowing that what she discovers in the end will transform her entire life.

About the Author

Born in New York City, Titia Ellis was adopted and then raised outside of Chicago. Trained as a psychologist, she maintained a family therapy practice for many years. Titia and her husband, Bill, founded the All One Family Fund in 2008 to help children at risk. They live in Vermont and delight in visits with their three children and nine grandchildren.