The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be: A Speculative Memoir of Transracial Adoption

by Shannon Gibney

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Book cover for The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be

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A Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book

Part memoir, part speculative fiction, this novel explores the often surreal experience of growing up as a mixed-Black transracial adoptee.

Dream Country author Shannon Gibney returns with a new book woven from her true story of growing up as the adopted Black daughter of white parents and the fictional story of Erin Powers, the name Shannon was given at birth by the white woman who gave her up for adoption. 

At its core, the novel is a tale of two girls on two different timelines occasionally bridged by a mysterious portal and their shared search for a complete picture of their origins. Gibney surrounds that story with reproductions of her own adoption documents, letters, family photographs, interviews, medical records, and brief essays on the surreal absurdities of the adoptee experience.

The end result is a remarkable portrait of an American experience rarely depicted in any form.
  • ISBN10 0593111990
  • ISBN13 9780593111994
  • Publish Date 10 January 2023
  • Publish Status Active
  • Out of Print 4 June 2024
  • Publish Country US
  • Imprint Dutton Books for Young Readers