Synopses & Reviews
2015 IPPY Award Silver Medalist in the Parenting Category
In moving and refreshingly candid prose, Rescuing Julia Twice tells Traster’s foreign-adoption story, from dealing with the bleak landscape and inscrutable adoption handlers in Siberia, to her feelings of inexperience and ambivalence at being a new mother in her early forties, to her growing realization over months then years that something was “not quite right” with her daughter, Julia, who remained cold and emotionally detached. Why wouldn’t she look her parents in the eye or accept their embraces? Why didn’t she cry when she got hurt? Why didn’t she make friends at school? Traster describes how uncertainty turned to despair as she blamed herself and her mothering skills for her daughter’s troublesome behavioral issues, until she came to understand that Julia suffered from reactive attachment disorder, a serious condition associated with infants and young children who have been neglected, abused, or orphaned in infancy.
Hoping to help lift the veil of secrecy and shame that too often surrounds parents struggling with attachment issues, Traster describes how with work, commitment, and acceptance, she and her husband have been able to close the gulf between them and their daughter to form a loving bond, and concludes by providing practical advice, strategies, and resources for parents and caregivers.
Review
“[N]othing short of stunning. This book will stay with you long after you close the cover.” —Lori Holden, author, The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption
“Having raised three kids with varying degrees of RAD, I know how much this book is needed!” —Julie Valentine, editor, adopting.com “[A] moving memoir.” —Publishers Weekly
Review
“Many adoption memoirs detail the journey that brings parent and child together . . . and end with a loving, triumphant homecoming. Fewer follow the story years down the road, as parents and child knit themselves into a family. Traster holds nothing back in recounting that second journey, to truly become her childs mother.” —Eve Gilman, editor, Adoptive Families Magazine
Review
“[N]othing short of stunning. This book will stay with you long after you close the cover.” —Lori Holden, author, The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption
"This is not the average Im-so-lucky, big-group-hug book on the subject. Author and adoptive mother Tina Traster gets real. Since we all know someone who has adopted, its a must-read… [a] stunning book!” —Parents.com
“Having raised three kids with varying degrees of RAD, I know how much this book is needed!” —Julie Valentine, editor, adopting.com “[A] moving memoir.” —Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
2015 IPPY Award Silver Medalist in the Parenting Category In moving and refreshingly candid prose,
Rescuing Julia Twice tells Traster's foreign-adoption story, from dealing with the bleak landscape and inscrutable adoption handlers in Siberia, to her feelings of inexperience and ambivalence at being a new mother in her early forties, to her grow-ing realization over months then years that something was "not quite right" with her daughter, Julia, who remained cold and emo-tionally detached. Why wouldn't she look her parents in the eye or accept their embraces? Why didn't she cry when she got hurt? Why didn't she make friends at school? Traster de-scribes how uncertainty turned to despair as she blamed herself and her mothering skills for her daughter's troublesome behavioral is-sues, until she came to understand that Julia suffered from reactive attachment disorder, a serious condition associated with infants and young children who have been neglect-ed, abused, or orphaned in infancy.
Hoping to help lift the veil of secrecy and shame that too often surrounds parents struggling with attachment issues, Traster describes how with work, commitment, and acceptance, she and her husband have been able to close the gulf between them and their daughter to form a loving bond, and concludes by providing practical advice, strategies, and resources for parents and caregivers.
Synopsis
2015 IPPY Award Silver Medalist in the Parenting Category In moving and refreshingly candid prose, Rescuing Julia Twice tells Traster's foreign-ado
Hoping to help lift the veil of secrecy and shame that too often surrounds parents struggling with attachment issues, Traster describes how with work, commitment, and acceptance, she and her husband have been able to close the gulf between them and their daughter to form a loving bond, and concludes by providing practical advice, strategies, and resources for parents and caregivers.
Synopsis
When the New York Post published Tina Trasters essay about her difficulty bonding with her daughter, Julia, whom she and her husband had adopted from a Siberian orphanage, the seasoned journalist was shocked and overwhelmed by the response, both empathetic and angry. In this frank and honest memoir, Traster tells her full foreign-adoption story, from dealing with the bleak landscape and the inscrutable and withholding adoption handlers in Siberia, to her feelings of inexperience and ambivalence at being a new mother in her early forties, to her growing realization over months then years that something was amiss with Julia, who remained cold and emotionally detached both at home and in school. Traster movingly recounts how uncertainty turned to despair as she blamed herself and her mothering skills for her daughters troublesome behavioral issues, until she came to understand that Julia suffered from reactive attachment disorder, a serious condition associated with infants and young children who have been neglected, abused, or orphaned. As she describes how—with work, commitment, and acceptance—she and her husband have been able to close the gulf between them and their daughter to form a loving bond, Traster provides practical advice and reassurance for parents struggling with attachment issues.
About the Author
Tina Traster is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, and literary journals such as Audubon, Family Circle, HuffingtonPost.com, the New York Post, and the New York Times, among many others. She is the author of the “Burb Appeal” column in the New York Post. Her essay Love Learned, about bonding with her adopted Russian daughter, is anthologized in the collections Living Lessons and Mammas and Pappas. She lives in Valley Cottage, New York. Melissa Fay Greene is the author of five books of nonfiction, including No Biking in the House Without a Helmet, about raising a family of nine children, five of whom are adopted, and There Is No Me Without You, a book about the HIV/AIDS pandemic. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia.