Family Secrets: A Writer's Search for His Parents and His Past

When British journalist Leitch experienced ""a kind of biological imperative afflicting adopted children, the elemental need to make contact with their personal history and origins,'' he began a family search whose layers were still unfolding when he wrote this book. Early on, his adoption was described to him by the Leitchesa curiously self-destructive couplein a story with puzzling gaps. After a reunion with his natural mother, he unearths a sister and awaits the possible discovery of another sibling. His investigative training, and the recent liberalization of access of adoptees' records, make his task more manageable; yet mysteries remain, as Leitch amply demonstrates in a compelling story. (April 25)