Prison Baby: A Memoir

(Paperback)

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Description

Even at twelve years old Deborah Jiang Stein, the adopted daughter of a progressive Jewish couple in Seattle, felt like an outsider. Her Asian features set her apart from her white, well-intentioned parents who evaded questions about her past, insisting it didn't matter. But when Deborah discovered a letter revealing the truth--that she was born in prison to a heroin-addicted mother and spent the first year of her life in prison--she spiraled into emotional lockdown. For years she turned to drugs, violence, and crime as a way to cope with her grief. Ultimately, Deborah overcame the stigma, shame, and secrecy of her birth, and found peace by helping others--proving that redemption and acceptance is possible even from the darkest corners.

Reviews

A book of hope for lives that need turning around.
Kirkus Reviews

"Jiang-Steins journey and her captivating account of it are beyond astonishing."
Minneapolis Star-Tribune

[A] unique and startling memoir...poetically written.
School Library Journal

The moving story provides a glimpse at the heart and struggles of adoptees and the importance of learning the truth of their stories and getting help in understanding the sometimes difficult information. definitely a must-read.
Adoption Today

"What shines throughPrison Babyis Stein's intrepid spirit. Hers is a story of self-actualization born of a constant search for hidden truths in the world's cracks and crevices.
TruthOut

The ways this woman discovers herself, via the revelation of her birth mother and her reconciliation with her adoptive mother, show us how dramatically different worlds intersect, and why those intersections are so important to who we areA powerful story.
Piper Kerman, author of Orange Is the New Black

Deborah Jiang Stein has beaten the cycle of intergenerational incarceration, despite the odds against hermultiracial, born in a federal prison to a heroin-addicted mother. Her story offers hope to the possibility of personal transformation for anyone.
Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking and Pulitzer Prize nominee

Thank you for emerging the kind and whole person your words make clear you are.
Gloria Steinem

A harrowing, heartfelt glittering diamond of a memoir that shows that being born in prison does not have to imprison the spirit. Gloriously alive and important."
Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author ofPictures of You and Is This Tomorrow

"Prison Baby,one woman's profoundquest for family and identity,is also a soul stirring call to arms on behalf of incarcerated women and their children.It's a story oflost and found, conflict and peace, and proof that with love,forgiveness, and support, people really dochange their lives."
Tayari Jones, author of Silver Sparrow

"This book defines what it is to be American, a woman caught in the whirlwinds of change, who finds the strength in herself to confront the challenges and overcome them. Wonderful."
Jimmy Santiago Baca, author ofA Place to Standand American Book Award winner

A compelling story of loss, addiction, and healingtold with grace and much heart.
Heidi W. Durrow, New York Times best-selling author ofThe Girl Who Fell From the Sky

At a time when more and more women are beingincarceratedworldwide, Deborah Jiang Stein's story of the secrets and ignominy surrounding her prison birth gives readers a brave account of the backlash children and society encounter when families are torn apart by addiction, prison, and shame. More than anything, Deborah's book is a call for an open-eyed examination of our broken criminal justice system, and a heartfelt plea for more compassionate responses to poverty and mental illness.
Naseem Rakha, author of The Crying Tree

"A profoundly moving search for identify, Prison Baby is as inspiring as it is haunting. Deborah Jiang Steins bold, and intrepid honesty will speak to anyone who has struggled with grief, forgiveness, and finding their place in the world."
Katrina Kittle, author of The Blessings of the Animals

Prison Baby is an emotionally charged, transformative story about one woman's search for her true origins. Candid and searing, Deborah Jiang Stein's memoir is a remarkable story about identity, lost and foundand about the author's journey to reclaimand celebratethat most primal of relationships, the one between mother and child. I dare you to read this book without crying.
Mira Bartok, author of The Memory Palace

"Prison Babyhits all the emotions of the who, what, where, when and why's of adoption right on the head of the nail! Some real deep life stuff is in these pages. It stirs the soul. I can relate to being in a similar predicament where I didn't look like anyone in my family. If you want to know the truth about finding who you really are, this is the story! Adopted or not."
Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, adoptee and Founder of hip-hop group Run-DMC

Author Bio

Deborah Jiang Stein is a national speaker, writer, and founder of The unPrison Project, a 501(c)3 nonprofit which serves to build public awareness about women and girls in prison and offers mentoring and life-skills programs for inmates.