April 2013

In AND THEN I FOUND YOU by Patti Callahan Henry, Katie Vaughan has tucked away something from her past. It’s a secret she thinks about every day: her daughter Luna, who she gave up for adoption the day she was born. She wonders where Luna is and what she is called now, for without Luna, Katie’s life does not seem whole. One day, she finds a small ring box in her boyfriend Rowan’s drawer, and in a panic she knows she needs to put her own life together before she can embrace a life with him. And part of that life includes Luna. Plus, she has to confront her feelings for Luna’s father, Jack. And Patti takes readers on Katie’s journey of self-discovery with her.

I had heard the back story on this book, and it’s so heartwarming. About 24 years ago, Patti’s younger sister Barbi had a baby she put up for adoption. Three years ago, around the time of her 21st birthday, that baby, Catherine, found Barbi on Facebook through Patti; she originally found Patti through her books. The family always had wondered what happened to the baby who had been part of their own family for a few short hours. Patti hits a new stride in her writing by embracing this theme of a child put up for adoption and the emotional impact that both the birth family and the family who chooses to love a child of adoption face. She is clear that this is a novel and not her sister’s story. She has mined the feelings that rolled through her family to create a book that both tugs at the heart and offers closure. And it does both.

What unfolds on these pages is Patti’s strongest novel to date!

Want to read more about the story behind the book? Read the short story called “Friend Request” that Patti wrote with Barbi.