num_pages: 313
description: Winner Best Memoir San Diego Book Publishing Awards 2011 Top 5 Adoption Books Adoptive Families Magazine 2011 Awards for memoir from the National League of American Pen Women "Explores the fierce love and loyalty that makes it possible for us to do more than we ever knew we were capable of." --Joyce Maynard, New York Times bestselling author of The Best of Us "Harrowing and moving...deftly handled." --Publishers Weekly "A scathing critique on a foreign adoption system and the harrowing account of one woman's attempt to fight it."-- Kirkus Reviews "Kafka-esque. Important and timely."-- Shelf Awareness "Regardless of age or intent, this is a riveting read."-- Marin Magazine This gripping memoir details a California woman's quest to adopt a baby girl from Guatemala in the face of overwhelming adversity. At only 32 years old, Jessica O'Dwyer experiences early menopause, seemingly ending her chances of becoming a mother. Years later, married but childless, she comes across a photo of a two-month-old girl on a Guatemalan adoption website and feels an instant connection. Mamalita is as much a story about the bond between a mother and child as it is about the lengths adoptive parents go to in their quest to bring their children home. At turns harrowing, heartbreaking, and inspiring, this is a classic story of the triumph of a mother's love over almost insurmountable odds.
title: Mamalita: An Adoption Memoir
publisher: Seal Press (CA)