You'll Forget This Ever Happened: Secrets, Shame, and Adoption in the 1960s
Laura L. Engel
(Author)
Description
A gripping and ultimately redemptive story full of surprises, plot twists, and you-can't-believe-it's-true moments, You'll Forget This Ever Happened is a testament to a mother's enduring love-but it's also much more.
Product Details
Price
$16.95
$15.76
Publisher
She Writes Press
Publish Date
May 10, 2022
Pages
344
Dimensions
5.5 X 8.4 X 1.1 inches | 1.0 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9781647423490
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Laura L. Engel originally hails from Biloxi, Mississippi but moved to San Diego, California over fifty years ago. In 2015 she retired from a thirty-five-year career in the corporate world with plans to quietly catch up on hobbies and travel with her husband, Gene. Within a year an unexpected miracle took: her firstborn son--the child she'd been forced to relinquish to adoption in 1967--found her. After that, Laura stopped guarding her painful secret and started telling the world about the miracle of meeting her son. Laura is currently President of the San Diego Memoir Writers Association. She is also an active member of the International Women's Writing Guild and a member of San Diego Writers Ink, San Diego Writer's Festival, and SD Writers and Editors Guild. She has five adult children and ten cherished grandchildren. Check out her website at www.lauralengel.com. She lives in El Cajon, CA.
Reviews
2023 International Book Awards Finalist in Autobiography/Memoir
2023 National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist in Memoir "Laura Engel tells her emotional and compelling story of becoming a pregnant, unwed teen in the Deep South in the 1960s, being shut away in a home for wayward women, and being forced to give up her first son to adoption. Then, after years of shame and guilt, she tells the heartwarming and inspiring story of reuniting with her long-lost son after forty-nine years. A powerful true story of historical, societal, and cultural stigmas against women, the complicated but strong bonds of family, the difficult road to self-acceptance and forgiveness, and the fierce love between a mother and her lost, but never forgotten, child."
-Nina Neilson Little, author of Spirit Baby: Travels Through China on the Long Road to Motherhood "You'll Forget This Ever Happened will break your heart and exhilarate your spirit. Honest and vulnerable while offering hope and love, Engel speaks to and for many young women of a generation that had little choice on how to cope with teen pregnancy at a time when shame was buried deep and heartbreak was never to be spoken of. Engel's prose is lyrical, and her storytelling is filled with rich and imaginative details. Endearing and heartwarming, this book is a treasure."
--Madonna Treadway, award-winning author of Six Healing Questions: A Gentle Path to Facing Loss of a Parent "You'll Forget This Ever Happened is a deeply moving, heart-wrenching, and visually alive memoir exposing the pain Engel experienced after becoming pregnant at a young age and being forced by her southern parents to give up her child. Ultimately the story is one of resilience, forgiveness, and acceptance, with an ending made for a movie."
--Roberta S. Kuriloff, author of Everything Special, Living Joy "When seventeen-year-old Laura finds herself pregnant, she hopes to find a way to keep the baby--even if it means raising him as an unmarried single mother. Unbeknownst to her, her parents have other plans, and Laura is forced to relinquish her son shortly after his birth. Fifty years later, thanks to DNA technology no one in the '60s could have imagined, Laura and her son are reunited. You'll Forget This Ever Happened is a triumph of the human spirit and a mother's enduring love."
--Lauren Cross, writer and reproductive rights advocate "You'll Forget This Ever Happened is a powerful, gripping memoir that grabs a hold of you from the first few words and keeps you turning pages to find out what will happen next. Engel travels back in time to when she was a young teen in the Deep South and was all but forced to give up a baby she wanted. She deftly captures her heartbreaking struggle--and explores the way she faced down shame and buried secrets to find herself and her long-lost son. Told with heart and grit, honesty and wisdom, You'll Forget This Ever Happened is a poignant read about a mother's unending love that will stay with you long after you have read the last page."
--Marni Freedman, author of 7 Essential Tools, and Permission To Roar and cofounder of San Diego Writers Festival "Laura Engel's You'll Forget This Ever Happened: Secrets, Shame and Adoption in the 1960s is a gripping and ultimately redemptive story about a teenage girl forced to relinquish her newborn son in a New Orleans home for unwed mothers in the 1960s. With beautiful descriptions and poetic, engaging writing, Engel breathes new life into a long-gone time in the South. This memoir is hard to put down in the best of ways. Full of surprises, plot twists, and you-can't-believe-it's-true moments, this book is a testament to a mother's enduring love. Grab a glass of sweet tea and prepare t
2023 National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist in Memoir "Laura Engel tells her emotional and compelling story of becoming a pregnant, unwed teen in the Deep South in the 1960s, being shut away in a home for wayward women, and being forced to give up her first son to adoption. Then, after years of shame and guilt, she tells the heartwarming and inspiring story of reuniting with her long-lost son after forty-nine years. A powerful true story of historical, societal, and cultural stigmas against women, the complicated but strong bonds of family, the difficult road to self-acceptance and forgiveness, and the fierce love between a mother and her lost, but never forgotten, child."
-Nina Neilson Little, author of Spirit Baby: Travels Through China on the Long Road to Motherhood "You'll Forget This Ever Happened will break your heart and exhilarate your spirit. Honest and vulnerable while offering hope and love, Engel speaks to and for many young women of a generation that had little choice on how to cope with teen pregnancy at a time when shame was buried deep and heartbreak was never to be spoken of. Engel's prose is lyrical, and her storytelling is filled with rich and imaginative details. Endearing and heartwarming, this book is a treasure."
--Madonna Treadway, award-winning author of Six Healing Questions: A Gentle Path to Facing Loss of a Parent "You'll Forget This Ever Happened is a deeply moving, heart-wrenching, and visually alive memoir exposing the pain Engel experienced after becoming pregnant at a young age and being forced by her southern parents to give up her child. Ultimately the story is one of resilience, forgiveness, and acceptance, with an ending made for a movie."
--Roberta S. Kuriloff, author of Everything Special, Living Joy "When seventeen-year-old Laura finds herself pregnant, she hopes to find a way to keep the baby--even if it means raising him as an unmarried single mother. Unbeknownst to her, her parents have other plans, and Laura is forced to relinquish her son shortly after his birth. Fifty years later, thanks to DNA technology no one in the '60s could have imagined, Laura and her son are reunited. You'll Forget This Ever Happened is a triumph of the human spirit and a mother's enduring love."
--Lauren Cross, writer and reproductive rights advocate "You'll Forget This Ever Happened is a powerful, gripping memoir that grabs a hold of you from the first few words and keeps you turning pages to find out what will happen next. Engel travels back in time to when she was a young teen in the Deep South and was all but forced to give up a baby she wanted. She deftly captures her heartbreaking struggle--and explores the way she faced down shame and buried secrets to find herself and her long-lost son. Told with heart and grit, honesty and wisdom, You'll Forget This Ever Happened is a poignant read about a mother's unending love that will stay with you long after you have read the last page."
--Marni Freedman, author of 7 Essential Tools, and Permission To Roar and cofounder of San Diego Writers Festival "Laura Engel's You'll Forget This Ever Happened: Secrets, Shame and Adoption in the 1960s is a gripping and ultimately redemptive story about a teenage girl forced to relinquish her newborn son in a New Orleans home for unwed mothers in the 1960s. With beautiful descriptions and poetic, engaging writing, Engel breathes new life into a long-gone time in the South. This memoir is hard to put down in the best of ways. Full of surprises, plot twists, and you-can't-believe-it's-true moments, this book is a testament to a mother's enduring love. Grab a glass of sweet tea and prepare t
