Journey to Identity: The Life, Loves and Torments of a 1944 Adoptee, by Jilly-Anne Cawthorne

This is the story of a girl who, at six weeks old, was bundled out of a
nursing home in Blackpool, England, and adopted into a middle-class
family in 1944, after her birth mother seemingly left her to an unknown
fate.

When Gill learns the harsh truth, at the age of eight, she is badly
affected by a sense of ‘not belonging’ and goes on to face a lifetime of
struggles and anxieties, despite the privileges she is afforded growing
up – her schooling experiences in private Seminaries, two years at The
London College of Fashion, her rich lovers and their flashy cars, and her
work as a top PA in the heart of London.

In the mid 70s new adoption laws allow Gill the opportunity to search
for her birth family. Naturally, her “Journey to Identity” is paved with
divided loyalties, fear of rejection, and long-term regret. But ultimately,
she unravels the truth, at least part of it, and finally, after a forty-year
search from the day she was told, Gill finds some kind of peace but not
all the answers. The stigma and the pain are somewhat diluted by her
discoveries, but the word ‘adopted’ refuses to move from its position
across her forehead.