Regifted

An Adoptee's Memoir of True Belonging

By: Candi Byrne

Narrated by: Candi Byrne

A raw, often wry, memoir of mothers, mysteries, and miracles. Surrendered at birth in a closed adoption, Candi Byrne’s biology and ethnicity is a secret. The impending arrival of her first grandchild ignites an urgency to identify potential genetic time bombs and confirm her ancestry. Due to arcane privacy laws, Candi is repeatedly denied access to the one person who could provide that information—her biological mother.

After years of failed attempts, she resigns herself to never learning the truth about her roots; that is, until her ninety-year-old Aunt Delores has a vision and insists Candi resume efforts to find her birth family. Candi is gobsmacked when an internet search she’s performed thousands of times before suddenly reveals her birth mother’s identity. Within hours, she ends up on the doorstep of her birth mother—a place she’s sworn never to visit.

After a series of guilt-driven interactions with “Those People,” as she refers to her maternal birth family, Candi terminates contact. Although the reunion proves disastrous, it opens her eyes to truths about her relationship with her adoptive mother, Delphine. Though their relationship was difficult and contentious during Delphine’s life, a series of miraculous experiences after her death guides Candi home to herself—where, she learns, she has belonged all along.

©2022 Candi Byrne (P)2024 Candi Byrne

Refreshingly Honest

I truly appreciate Candi’s honest sharing of her story to find out information about her birth family. She beautifully captures the conflicted feelings some of us feel when we meet these individuals and then struggle to figure out how they fit in our lives now. She is a gifted writer who makes us feel we are walking right beside her as she journeys on a path to find out who she truly is.