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Ghost Child

Uncovering Family Secrets from a Back Porch to the Yucatan

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Pub Date 14 Oct 2025 | Archive Date 3 Dec 2025


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Description

A young woman from a blue-collar background—aspiring and driven—spent over twenty years quietly wondering if the family who raised her was truly hers. At thirty-two, she confirmed the unthinkable: she is the biological daughter of another, entirely unknown family.

Her search unfolds like a page-turning mystery, leading to an astonishing discovery—her biological grandfather was a U.S. diplomat and author, photographed in the Oval Office with President Kennedy, greeting Charles Lindbergh on the tarmac, and meeting with Rosa Parks and international leaders. Her grandmother was a Cambridge-educated Mexican who described to her an exotic heritage of haciendas and aristocracy in the Yucatan. Her birth mother, Katie, a Bohemian expatriate in Cuernavaca, Mexico, gave birth to her in secret and lived childless ever since.

Raised by loving parents who didn’t finish high school, she now must reconcile her upbringing with an extraordinary legacy. Ghost Child is a sweeping story of identity, belonging, and the strange, poignant bond between a daughter and the unforgettable birth mother she did not know.

A young woman from a blue-collar background—aspiring and driven—spent over twenty years quietly wondering if the family who raised her was truly hers. At thirty-two, she confirmed the unthinkable:...


A Note From the Publisher
Deborah Jennings is an environmental lawyer, retired from a global law firm. She was a partner for thirty-four years. The author is the mother of adopted twins and herself an adoptee who didn’t learn she was adopted until she was 32 years old. She wrote this memoir about the discovery of her adoption and ensuing international search for her origins. She grew up in very modest circumstances but discovered an illustrious biological family, including a grandfather who was a political figure and John Kennedy appointee and a grandmother who was from the Yucatan and graduated from Cambridge University. She is a former board member of Adoptions Together, now named Paths for Families, in Washington, DC.

Deborah Jennings is an environmental lawyer, retired from a global law firm. She was a partner for thirty-four years. The author is the mother of adopted twins and herself an adoptee who didn’t...


Advance Praise

"Ghost Child: Uncovering Family Secrets from a Back Porch to the Yucatan by Deborah Jennings is a unique, touching, and gripping memoir." - Readers' Favorite

"Ghost Child: Uncovering Family Secrets from a Back Porch to the Yucatan by Deborah Jennings is a unique, touching, and gripping memoir." - Readers' Favorite


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Press Release/One-Sheet

Goodreads book page

Social media outreach

Atmosphere Press newsletter feature

Live virtual events

Customized book announcement email

Kirkus/Publishers Weekly reviews

Editorial reviews

...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9798891328396
PRICE US$16.99 (USD)
PAGES 236

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