Cyril Avery is not a real Avery -- or at least, that's what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn't a real Avery, then who is he?Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hunchbacked Redemptorist nun, Cyril is adrift in the world, anchored only tenuously by his heartfelt friendship with the infinitely more...

Presents the experiences of four teenage girls of Chinese birth adopted by families in the U.S. Examines questions of race and identity of the adoptees. The young women profiled investigate their origins.

Three women's lives share a common core. They have all been profoundly affected by adoption. At age fourteen, Karen placed a baby for adoption, and has been haunted ever since by the daughter she never knew. Elizabeth grew up as an adopted child. Even though she is a bright and ambitious lawyer, she is a flinty loner in her personal life. Lucy and her husband are just embarking on the adoption odyssey, hoping for the opportunity to become parents....

Struggling with a need for closure, Sara Gallagher attempts to reconnect with her birth parents only to learn that her biological father is an infamous serial killer, a discovery that causes her to fear she has inherited violent tendencies.

Chung investigates the mysteries and complexities of her transracial adoption in this chronicle of unexpected family for anyone who has struggled to figure out where they belong.