Bernadette Murphy | What Kind of Mother

Bernadette Murphy discusses her memoir, What Kind of Mother. We are thrilled to welcome Bernadette Murphy to the bookshop to discuss her moving memoir, What Kind of Mother. Bernadette will be joined in conversation by Rebekah Cummings, the cofounder of Let Utah Read, a statewide coalition dedicated to preserving the freedom to read. This is a ticketed event and will take place at The King's English Bookshop. Select from two ticketed options to attend: 1. $5 and all proceeds go directly to our partner non-profit, Brain Food Book. 2. $30 and includes a copy of What Kind of Mother Copies of the book will be available to purchase at the event. You may also pre-order your signed copy of the books to be picked up at the event by either calling the store at 801-484-9100 or ordering online. If you cannot make this event, signed copies may be ordered from our website. Please specify in the comments if you would like your copy personalized. Places in the signing line are reserved for those who purchase a copy from The King's English. About the book: A moving memoir that offers a vital new perspective on adoption—from the rarely glimpsed birth mother’s point of view. What kind of mother gives up her son? Bernadette Murphy grew up the “miracle child” of her immigrant Irish Catholic family, arriving unexpectedly after her mother’s difficulty conceiving and her parents’ adoption of her older brother. Three more siblings followed, and as her once glamorous mother sank deeper into depression, and her father struggled to support the family, Bernadette grew up quickly and cared for her brothers and sister. When Bernadette’s first love resulted in a pregnancy at age sixteen, faced with limited options and a belief, from her Catholic upbringing, that abortion was a sin, she made the impossible choice to put the baby up for adoption. More than forty years later, Bernadette, now the mother of three grown children, was still living with deep-rooted shame and guilt, consumed by thoughts of the boy she relinquished. What did he think of her, if he thought of her at all? Was he angry, troubled, content? As she launched a desperate search for her firstborn, she began writing him letters, describing her life and explaining her decision. At once an incisive, affecting memoir of a childhood filled with hardship and love and the story of a birth mother’s quest to find her son and forgive herself, What Kind of Mother challenges our assumptions about adoption, opening up an important conversation about family, love, and possibility.