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 Surrendered Child
A Birth Mother's Journey
Karen Salyer McElmurray

An unforgettable true story of a teenage mother's choice to give up her child

Surrendered Child is Karen Salyer McElmurray's raw, poignant account of her journey from her teen years, when she put her newborn child up for adoption, to adulthood and a desperate search for the son she never knew. In a patchwork narrative interwoven with dark memories from her childhood, McElmurray deftly treads where few dare-into a gritty, honest exploration of the loss a birth mother experiences. With unflinching honesty, McElmurray recounts both the painful surrendering and the surprise rediscovery of her son, and juxtaposes that story with a portrayal of her own mother, who could not provide the love she needed. The dramatic result is a tale of birthright lost and found-and an exploration of the meaning of motherhood itself.

Karen Salyer McElmurray is an assistant professor in the creative writing program at Georgia College and State University. She is also the author of Strange Birds in the Tree of Heaven (Georgia).

March 2006

ISBN 0820328235 paper • Sale Price: $14.21 / List Price: $18.95

272 pp. • 5-3/16 x 8 in. • 22 b&w photos

A volume in the seriesAssociation of Writers and Writing Programs Award for Creative Nonfiction

"[A] haunting and evocative memoir ... McElmurray has composed a moving meditation on loss and memory and the rendering of truth and story."-Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Bears powerful testimony to the saving grace of imagination."-Tennessean

"There is a quality to the book-perhaps it is heartache-that will bring even a jaded reader to her knees."-Rain Taxi

"McElmurray transforms some of her life's more difficult experiences into pure poetry; where there once was pain, she creates beauty."-Rosemary Daniell, author of Fatal Flowers

"Riveting and disturbing, McElmurray's poetic language and utter honesty lift this story into the realm of grace-finally, this dark memoir is an enlightening and redemptive work of art."-Lee Smith

"Through honest storytelling and striking detail, [McElmurray] refines her dark, painful memories until there is light."-Southern Living

"[McElmurray] provides the reader with a story that is rarely told, openly discussing both the complications that factor into a birth mother's decision to place her child up for adoption, and the complications that arise from that decision ... Words are a source of therapy for McElmurray, and she is a writer who can be praised for her courage as much as for her lyricism."-Spartanburg Herald-Journal

"Legions of mothers have given up their children for adoption over the years, but seldom have any of them written about the experience with the candor and clarity of Karen McElmurray. This book takes the sensitive reader on a compelling roller-coaster ride of hopelessness, discovery, reunion and renewed love."-Appalachian Heritage

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