Girl '44: A Memoir of Adoption and Discovery

"Girl '44" is the story of an innocent child's survival in a harsh world. Until the age of seven, Nan Shirley Ann Miller lived, unknowingly, behind a shattered mirror of bad luck: abandonment by her birth parents, life in an orphanage and numerous foster care facilities until she was finally adopted into a high society family. Known as "Girl '44" by the Cuyahoga County Department of Human Services in Ohio, Nan Shirley Ann Miller reunited with her birth family after a miraculous chain of events - fifty-five years after being adopted. This helped her to answer many questions about herself, including the discovery of her Cherokee ancestry. In the space of three whirlwind months, Nan's older sister Betsy - "Girl '43" - re-entered her life, and revealed many of her recollections of their tragic early childhood, including the details of Nan's hidden away memories of physical abuse. Although handed a difficult start in life, today Nan successfully enjoys her multiple roles as wife, mother, grandmother, sister, educator, artist, clown, and writer.