Book Review: "Motherless Child" by Sarah Weathersby

Motherless Child: Stories from a Life
Author: Sarah Gordon Weathersby
Publisher: Sarah Weathersby
ISBN: 9780615212944
Genre: Memoir, nonfiction

About the book: (from publisher)

"Imagine you gave a baby up for adoption forty years ago, and after years of trying to find her, she finds you.  Now come the hard questions.  She's healthy, beautiful, and successful, but she wants to know why you gave her away and why you didn't marry her father. And there is also the unspoken question of "What kind of black woman gives her baby away?" How do you explain to her that giving her away was the best gift you could offer?"

My Thoughts:

A beautifully written memoir of a young woman's choice to give her baby up for adoption and then her search to find her child, this is a story that is written in a matter-of-fact way, but with love and tenderness without self-pity or drama. It is refreshing, memorable and inspiring and will most definitely stay with me for a very long time.

Since this was written in first person, as soon as I started reading, it felt like I was sitting down, having a cup of coffee with an aunt or another relative while she told me about her life story. From the beginning the intimacy and personal feel captivated me. The more that was "told", the more that I wanted to "hear". Sarah takes one through her life of the challenges of growing up as a black teen in the 1960's, when single motherhood was unheard of, and integration in schools and colleges weren't easily accepted. The world was so much different than now, and to hear her story brings into perspective of how challenging (how about downright difficult) it was for her.

I truly enjoyed Sarah's story. She is an amazingly strong woman and it comes out in the pages of this well written and fascinating life story. Everyone - teen through adult - should read this memoir. It is touching, and just and incredible account of growing up in a difficult time and how one beautiful woman made it through.

About the Author:

Sarah Weathersby was born in the rectory of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Petersburg, Virginia during the time that her Daddy was rector. She attended segregated public schools in Petersburg until her Mother died, and she was sent to live in Washington, DC with her brother and his wife. Sarah graduated from high school in Washington, and went on to college at Drew University, Madison, New Jersey where she majored in German Literature and spent a junior year in Munich. She met her first husband while he was a student in the Theological School at Drew. They settled in North Carolina and raised two sons. Sarah earned her MBA from Meredith College in Raleigh, NC.

Since she was practically born in the church, it was natural that she would live most of her life in the church. She never considered herself the “First Lady,” rather just another church member with her own sense of calling. After the death of her husband, she found her long-lost daughter who inspired her memoir, Motherless Child, stories from a life, her first published work. She lives in Raleigh with her second husband, when they are not traveling from Agadir to Maui, riding camels or bicycles.

If you would like to learn more about Sarah or what she is working on next, please visit her web page at: http://www.sarahweathersby.com/

Ebook was supplied by the author for me to honestly review.