The Girl with Three Birthdays - by Patti Eddington (Paperback)

About the Book

The brief "Report of Investigation" contained inside the thin, manila envelope that landed in Patti Eddington's mailbox after almost six decades locked in a courthouse vault looked unassuming--but the adoption document unleashed a heartbreaking, emotional tempest that led her to question everything she ever believed about her beloved parents and her childhood, and use her journalistic chops to go digging for the truth.

Book Synopsis

Patti Eddington always knew she was adopted, and her beloved parents seemed amenable enough to questions--but she never wanted to hurt them by expressing curiosity, so she didn't. The story of her mother cutting off and dying her hair when she was a toddler? She thought it was eccentric and funny, nothing more. When she discovered at fifteen that her birthday wasn't actually her birthday? She believed it when her mother said she'd changed it to protect her from the "nosy old biddies" who might try to discover her identity.

It wasn't until decades later, when a genealogy test led Patti to her biological family (including an aunt with a shocking story) and the discovery of yet another birthday, that she really began to integrate what she thought she knew about her origins. Determined to know the truth, she finally petitioned a court to unseal records that had been locked up for almost sixty years--and began to put the pieces of her past together, bit by painstaking bit.

Framed by a brief but poignant 1963 "Report of Investigation" based on a caseworker's one-day visit to Patti's childhood home, The Girl With Three Birthdays tells the story of an adoptee who always believed she was the answer to a couple's seventeen-year journey to become parents, until a manila envelope from a rural county court arrived and caused her to question . . . everything.

Review Quotes

"The Girl With Three Birthdays is riveting and mysterious, a story that will draw readers in as it pulls at their heart strings."
--BookLife Reviews

About the Author

Patti Eddington married her veterinary student boyfriend, Jim, when they were in college. While she expected the focus of their life together to be on animals, she wasn't prepared for quite as many shenanigans as she has experienced; her life has been incredibly happy, but probably not as glamorous as some might expect. Today, the Mid-Century Modern design enthusiast, dance fitness instructor, and former journalist enjoys being dragged on walks by her ridiculous three-legged dog, David, and watching the sandhill cranes and bald eagles from her deck on a beautiful bayou in Spring Lake, Michigan.