Twice Born: Memoirs of an Adopted Daughter by Betty Jean Lifton is being reissued of the classic 1975 memoir with a new Afterward.

The following is a press release received from the editor.

In this significant and lasting account, Betty Jean Lifton, acclaimed author of several books on the psychology of the adopted, tells her own story of growing up at a time when adoptees were still in the closet. Twice Born recounts her early struggle with the loneliness and isolation of not knowing her birth parents, her identification, as a journalist in the Far East, with the orphans left behind by American soldiers in Japan and Vietnam, and the guilt she experiences over what feels like a betrayal of her adopted parents as she sets off on a forbidden quest to find her roots.

With the mounting suspense of a detective novel, Twice Born explores the difficulty of searching for one's past when records are sealed, and the complexity of reuniting with a birth mother from whom one has been separated by both time and social taboos. More than a vivid and poignant memoir, Lifton has given us a story of mothering and mother-loss, attachment and bonding, secrets and lies, and the human need for origins.

In an updated Afterward, Dr. Lifton explores how adoption has changed and yet has not changed. Although there has been a gradual evolution from closed adoption to open adoption, records are still legally sealed in the majority of states. She addresses international adoption and the trauma those children will experience-similar to that of adoptees who grew up in the closed adoption system. The question still remains the same for adoptees today-Who am I?

Betty Jean Lifton, Ph.D., is a writer, adoption counselor, and leading advocate for adoption reform. Her books include Journey of the Adopted Self, Lost and Found: The Adoption Experience, and The King of Children: The Life and Death of Janusz Korczak, a New York Times Notable Book. A frequent lecturer, she has a counseling practice in Cambridge, Massachusetts and New York City and does phone counseling across the country. Her Web site is www.BJLifton.com.

Twice Born is available at bookstores, Amazon.com, and other online retailers or from Other Press: 2 Park Avenue, 24th Floor, New York, NY, 10016 Phone: (212) 414-0054 ext 211 Email: marketing@otherpress.com.