By Marissa Wells
Contributing Writer
Rachel, the adoptive mother of Miles, has received a call from police informing her that he’s been arrested. As she tries to get Miles out of jail, she recalls their life together.
This leads to her own questions about her competence as a mother, the viability of interracial adoption and whether her son will ever forgive her for the mistakes she has made as his adoptive mother.
That’s the basis for the suspenseful narrative memoir, “Seeking Forgiveness,” by Lea Rachel.
The book was inspired by Rachel’s relationship with her son.
“I wanted to give him something so that when life got rough and unfair, he could glance over at his bookshelf and see the written embodiment of his mother’s love, and know that he had the support to get through anything,” Rachel said.
In the book, Rachel offers rich commentary on motherhood, adoption and race relations in America.
“One of the reasons I wrote ‘Seeking Forgiveness’ was to offer a better understanding of what it is like to raise an interracial family in our current environment — the joy of it, but also the difficulties and discrimination that can come with it,” Rachel said. “I hope my readers finish ‘Seeking Forgiveness’ with an enhanced perspective on this one aspect of race in America today.”
The book is intended for mothers, fathers and others interested in the varied experiences of motherhood and parenting in general.
“I’ve come to find that the hardest thing about being a parent is never really knowing if you are doing it right; there is no guidebook, or answer key, where you can look up at what age to give your child their first phone, what to do when they steal a pack of gum from the drug store, or how to reply when they tell you they hate their life,” Rachel said. “Motherhood is a surprising, confounding, constantly evolving experience, and anyone who is interested in delving into it, particularly from the unique perspective of an interracial adoptive family, will enjoy this book.”
In addition to being an author, Rachel is a professor of the University of Missouri St. Louis. For more information about the author and her work, visit learachel.com.
“Seeking Forgiveness” is available for $15.99 (paperback) and $9.99 (e-book) via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other major online book selling outlets.
