So Many Ways to Belong

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A01=Carol Atherton
adopted child
adoption
adoption advice
adoption book
adoption gifts
adoption guide
adoptive parents
Author_Carol Atherton
autobiography
books for women
care system
Category=DNC
Category=VFDW
Category=VFVK
children
christie watson
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_health-lifestyle
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eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
forthcoming
foster parent
fostering
gifts for mums
gifts for parents
guide
margaret reynolds
memoir
motherhood
no matter what
non fiction
parenting
parenting books
philippa perry
phillipa perry
reading lessons
sally donovan
the book you wish your parents had read
the language of kindness
the story of a heart
the wild track
this is not a pity memoir
trying to adopt

Product details

  • ISBN 9780241767290
  • Weight: 236g
  • Dimensions: 135 x 215mm
  • Publication Date: 09 Jul 2026
  • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Paperback
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This is a beautiful read; a poignant, clear-eyed and ultimately hopeful account of the massive leap of faith that is the adoption process. Carol Atherton captures the reality of the challenges, the barriers and the ultimate joy in one of the most complex of human relationships.' Dr. Gwen Adshead, author of The Devil You Know

Essential reading for those whose life has been—or may yet be—touched by adoption, and for anyone wanting to better understand its story.

Twenty years ago, Carol Atherton and her husband, Matthew stood together on the doorstep of a suburban house waiting to meet the small, red-headed toddler who would soon be woven into the fabric of their lives. But that moment was only one of many thresholds they crossed on their journey to becoming adoptive parents...

So Many Ways to Belong is the handhold Carol wishes she’d had two decades ago, when doubt and uncertainty shadowed every step. Honest and illuminating, it tells both a deeply personal story and the larger story of adoption itself—challenging stereotypes, exploding myths, and examining what it truly means to build a family.

It is an empathetic exploration of belonging, identity and our very human need for rootedness: to know who we are, where we’ve come from, and how we fit in.

Carol Atherton is the author of Reading Lessons: An English Teacher’s Love Letter to the Books that Shape Us, which was shortlisted for the Indie Book Awards 2025. She is an English teacher, tutor and writer. Originally from Merseyside, she studied English at Oxford and now lives in Lincolnshire.

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