Finding Loretta is a touching and powerful memoir chronicling one woman's journey to uncover her identity amidst the scars of psychological abuse and the tangled web of secrets and betrayal. Trapped in the shadow of an adoptive mother whose unaddressed grief and trauma manifested as gaslighting and manipulation, Diane struggles to reconcile her deep longing to please her mother with the need to find herself. This bittersweet narrative offers a heartbreaking yet inspiring exploration of resilience, identity, and belonginga story that will linger in your heart long after the final page.Monica Hall, author of Practically Still a Virgin
In her memoir Finding Loretta, Diane Wheaton has crafted a work of the heart, a search for belonging, wanting the heritage that is due her; to look in the mirror and know who she is. This book brought me to tears as the story unfolded like a mystery. Will she find her mother? Will she find her true origins and family? What is the legacy of her life? A wonderful story of hope and healing.LINDA JOY MYERS, founder of the National Association of Memoir Writers, author of Dont Call Me Mother, Song of the Plains, and a novel The Forger of Marseilles
Secrets are woven into fabric of closed adoption, on a systemic, institutional level, and within adoptive and biological families. These secrets have deep generational repercussions, which are so deftly illustrated in Diane Wheatons complex and moving book. In this deeply personal story, she shows us the damage that secrets can inflict, as well as the potential for connection, redemption and healing.SUSAN KIYO ITO, author of I Would Meet You Anywhere
I was pulled into the many layers of Finding Loretta from the very beginning. From her rocky relationship with her adoptive parents to her unrelenting search for her birth parents and blood relatives, Dianes story is that of resilience, hope, perseverance, and strength. From gut wrenching heartbreak to the relief of finally knowing ones roots, emotions run deep in this beautifully written memoir.KRISTI ELIZABETH, Los Angeles Book Review In Finding Loretta, Diane Wheaton deftly showcases the balancing act all adoptees face when launching a search: displaying loyalty to the only family one has ever known; navigating the closed adoption system; sifting through lies and missing information; staving off fears of rejection; honoring self in the pursuit of truth and identity. The battle between right to know and right to privacy is front and center in Wheatons gripping personal tale. JULIE RYAN MCGUE, author of Twice a Daughter, Belonging Matters, and Twice a Family
Diane Wheaton offers a thoughtful reflection on the realities of adoption for an adopted person. Finding Loretta takes an honest look at the complexities of adoptee loyalty and includes many compelling moments from start to finish.HALEY RADKE, creator and host of Adoptees On podcast
Most little girls would have felt lucky to have been adopted into a two-parent family in an upper-middle class community by the beach with a stay-at-home mother who kept everything just so. But for Diane Wheaton there was something more she yearned for. Something money or a formally set dinner table couldnt buy. This page-turning memoir is full of twists and turns you wont see coming.LAURIE JAMES, author of Sandwiched
Finding Loretta opens readers eyes to the complexity of adoption as Diane Wheaton searches for family and identity while navigating her relationship with her aging adoptive parents and their complicated issues. A moving, personal story of loss, love, and coming home to self.ANNE HEFFRON, author of You Dont Look Adopted and To Be Real
In clear, well-paced prose, Diane Wheaton offers gentle insight into the effects of infant relinquishment on an adopted persons life. Finding Loretta is an emotionally honest portrayal of the authors choice to recover what was lost to her in adoption. Five Stars!MARY ELLEN GAMBUTTI, author of I Must Have Wandered
In Finding Loretta, Diane Wheaton offers a glimpse behind the veil separating fallacies from the shattered fantasies that guide her life as an adoptee. Mixed emotions color complicated relationships as she begins her brave journey toward self-discovery. Wheaton courageously rises after every fall, piecing together fragments of who am I and where did I come from, while risking abandonment and betrayal in turns of events readers will least expect. Every word of Finding Loretta is true; a rare opportunity to view adoption from multiple angles.JUDITH CASSIS, book coach and author of Where Do I Go From Here?
Finding Loretta unfolds like a good mystery, but it is so much more. It is a love story and a heros journey. Memoirs tend to be vulnerable to either of two pitfalls; one is the story of poor me; the other is the story that ends with a neatly gift wrapped resolution. Finding Loretta is neither one. Wheaton has written a captivating memoir that does justice to the complexities of real people and real life. I found it to be a moving story and a satisfying read.LEAH FISHER, author of My Marriage Sabbatical
One of the best books on adoption. This is groundbreaking work, far beyond a memoir. There is much that can be gleamed from Finding Loretta.NICOLE NEUMAN, cultural consultant and psychologist
