Hard to Place is a memoir about a family. Loss is the catalyst that sets all the action of the book in motion—but this is not a book about loss. It is a narrative that weaves together the lives of seven people—five original members of a family and the two "hard to place" adopted children who eventually become part of it. It braids together themes of risk, crisis, conflict, spirituality, transcendence and the many manifestations of love. As the adopted boys move into adulthood, the whole family joins in their quest to uncover and confront painful secrets about the past. After an almost miraculous convergence of events, exciting as a mystery story, the family is almost torn apart by what is discovered.
Weaving these strands together is the mother and narrator,whose personal odyssey of faith and doubt climaxes in conflicted emotions.The title Hard to Place reverberates within the many layers of this story about ordinary people, human experience, and the triumph of will over circumstance.
Beverley K. on Amazon wrote:In the adoption system, older children are often harder to place than babies, especially older children with challenges. In 1970, Marion Goldstein, a devout Catholic with three young children, looked forward to the birth of her fourth child, but something went terribly wrong, and that baby who was named John died soon after his birth. This loss filled Marion with sorrow and despair and she questioned her own faith in a merciful God. Marion did not want to chance another pregnancy and possible loss of a baby. So, she and her husband Bob decided to adopt a child. They decided to adopt an older child and turned to the Spaulding for Children adoption agency which specializes in placing children with special needs or older children.
In 1972, the case worker with Spaulding told Marion and Bob about two young brothers available for adoption from Canada. It took a lot of soul searching and effort, but the couple decided to adopt the boys. Marion goes into great detail about the adoption process, how she handled explaining the adoption to the three children she already had, and her hopes for her expanded family of five children. The adopted boys named Eddie and Kurt had been taken away from their natural parents who could not properly care for them. They also suffered from malnutrition, emotional deprivation, and had been placed with a foster family in a rural part of Canada for a while before the adoption.
There is so much love and courage shown by Marion toward her growing family along with the love and support that she shared with her husband Bob who had his own challenges. Life was not always easy, but the family pulled together through some turbulent times with the bonds between parents and children remaining strong over the years.
Hard to Place, One Family’s Journey through Adoption is more than an adoption tale, it is a heart-warming tale about one mother’s search for understanding God’s will and how even if life doesn’t always go according to plans, there is purpose and meaning to it. It is a beautifully written story with vivid details and poetic expression, one which offers hope to those of us who have wondered why things didn’t turn out the way we wanted them to, and to those unable to have but wanting to have children.
I don’t think I have ever read a book that moved me like this one has!! It was a well written by the love of an adopted mother. Being an adopted child myself I count myself so fortunate. This story brought me to tears with sorrow and joy. Thank you Catherine for telling me about it.