I hope you will take the time to read this review of Secrets of the Asylum published in Severance, an online publication which calls itself “a magazine and community for people who’ve been separated from biological family.”

Severance gives a voice to people who were adopted, or donor conceived, or who found out that one or both of their parents aren’t related to them biologically. In this age of genetic genealogy, more and more people are discovering unexpected things in their family trees, upending their sense of identity. Severance allows people to share how these circumstances have affected them. In addition to validating their emotional truths, the essays in the magazine lend support to others in similar situations. Severance also helps identity seekers by pointing them to resources to help them on their journey to discover the truth about their beginnings.

Although the story I tell in Secrets of the Asylum isn’t typical of those told in Severance, it touches on themes that come up whenever DNA surprises are uncovered: intergenerational trauma and the consequences of family secrets.