Books > The Secret of Joy

Several years ago, I received a startling email out of the blue: "I think you might be my half-sister." (And I was.) What interesting and soul-searching questions this inspired: what does family truly mean? How much weight should DNA have? What happens now? I didn't know, so I found myself writing about a woman who discovers she has a half-sister she never knew existed and I sent her off to find her. Only the very nugget of the idea of The Secret of Joy is autobiographical; I flipped everything else on its head. But the emotional impact, the questions, the wondering...all very real!