What They Never Told Us: True Stories of Family Secrets and Hidden Identities Revealed

(Hardback)

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From acclaimed bestselling author of White Like Her: My Family's Story of Race and Racial Passing, comes a brand new collection of stories of people uncovering their past.

What They Never Told Ustells the stories of ordinary people who made extraordinary, life-changing discoveries about their parentage and/or race and ethnicity that fractured their identities. The book asks the big questions: Who are we And what is family

Blending social history and personal narratives, each story delves into the devastating psychological trauma of uncovering a hidden family secret with all the twists and turns of a mystery novel from how the discovery was made;to why it was kept secret;to the arduous, sometimes disappointing, quest to find the biological parent or parents. To fully understand the secrecy surrounding these family secrets, the book examines pre-WWII and post-WWII attitudes toward infertility, adoption, donor conception, race and racial passing, and unmarried pregnant women.

Interspersed throughout these harrowing narratives is the author'sown confusing and sometimes painful journey to redefine herracial identity under the spotlight of public opinion. Searingly raw and honest, What They Never Told Ustells the stories that were never meant to be heard.

Reviews

Praise for What They Never Told Us:

"Gail Lukasiks writing is masterful, inspiring, and fearless. Her memoir,White Like Her, poignantly told her mothers story of passing for white and its effect on Gail and her family, while shining a light on Americas history of racial discrimination. In her new book,What They Never Told Us: True Stories of Family Secrets and Hidden IdentitiesRevealed, she explores the lives of ordinary people who made extraordinary life-changing discoveries about their parentage and/or race that shattered their identities. Once again, Gail uncovers family secrets that were meant to stay hidden."

Kenyatta D. Berry, author ofFamily Tree Toolkitand host of PBSsGenealogy Roadshow.

Praise for Gail Lukasik's White Like Her

Lukasik takes us inside her family story, revealing that her own mother chose to live as a white woman. Lukasik, bravely and eloquently, writes with a researchers eye and a daughters heart. In righting her own history, Lukasik graciously affords us the opportunity to right our own. Goldie Taylor, editor-at-large of the Daily Beast
Meticulously researched . . . Offers new insights into issues surrounding the complex history of racial passing in the United States . . . a narrative made compelling by her deeply felt emotional responses as she excavates her own heritage. This is a book which will elicit much discussion among diverse audiences, adding, as it does, to the too often elusive American tapestry. Ronne Hartfield, author of Another Way Home: The Tangled Roots of Race in One Chicago Family

Important in helping us understand Americas complex racial history . . . Adds to the ongoing conversation about race and racial identity in America because it looks at the ramifications of institutionalized racialism and racial passing through one familys story. Kenyatta D. Berry, Host of PBSs Genealogy Roadshow

In White Like Her, Lukasik, with the persistence and canniness of the sleuths as the detective novelist she sometimes impersonates, explores how complicated race is in America. Randy Fertel, author of The Gorilla Man and the Empress of Steak: A New Orleans Family Memoir

Author Bio

Gail Lukasik is a freelance writer, editor, college lecturer, and the author of the bestselling book White Like Her: My Family's Story of Race and Racial Passing, which the Washington Post named "One of the Most Inspiring Stories of 2017." Gail has appeared on PBS'sGenealogy Roadshow, BBC World News,and NBC'sMegyn Kelly Today. She is also a contributor at the Washington Post and the author of several mystery novels featuring the character Leigh Girard.