AUTHOR JULIE RYAN MCGUE: TWICE THE FAMILY
ON BIG BLEND RADIO: Award-winning author Julie Ryan McGue discusses her new memoir, “Twice the Family: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Sisterhood.” Watch here in the YouTube player or download the episode on Podbean.
Julie Ryan McGue unravels the gripping tale of adopted twins facing the turbulent tides of love, loss and identity in suburban Chicago. As their family expands and secrets emerge, will their sisterly bond withstand the test of time? Dive into a memoir that explores the heart’s complexities and the fierce quest for belonging in “Twice the Family” (Feb. 4, 2025, She Writes Press) the much-anticipated prequel to McGue’s debut memoir “Twice a Daughter.”
In this coming-of-age memoir — set in Chicago’s western suburbs between the 1960s and ’80s — adopted twins, Julie and Jenny, provide their parents with an instant family. The twins’ sisterly bond holds tight as the two strive for independence, individuality and belonging. But as Julie’s parents continue adding children to their family, several painful and tragic experiences test family values, parental relationships and sibling bonds.
Faced with these hurdles, Julie questions everything: who she is, how she fits in and even her adoption circumstances. She understands her adoptive family is held together by love, faith, support and her parents’ commitment to each other and their children. And yet, the life her parents have constructed is not one Julie wants for herself. As she matures, she chooses her own unique path. In the process, she realizes how the experiences that formed her have provided a road map for the person and mother she wants to be.
Julie Ryan McGue is an American writer, a domestic adoptee, and an identical twin. Her first memoir, “Twice a Daughter: A Search for Identity, Family, and Belonging,” released in May 2021, winning multiple awards. Her work has appeared in the Story Circle Network Journal, Brevity Nonfiction Blog, Imprint News, Adoption.com, Lifetime Adoption Adoptive Families Blog, Adoption & Beyond, and Severance Magazine. Her personal essays have appeared in several anthologies, including “Real Women Write: Seeing Through Her Eyes” (Story Circle Network) and “Art in the Time of Unbearable Crisis” (She Writes Press).
Her collection of essays, “Belonging Matters: Conversations on Adoption, Family, and Kinship” (Muse Literary), released in November 2023. She writes a biweekly blog and monthly column (The Beacher Newspapers), in which she explores the topics of finding out who you are, where you belong, and making sense of it. Julie splits her time between Northwest Indiana and Sarasota, Florida. “Twice the Family: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Sisterhood” is her third book.
Visit her website for more info: https://juliemcgueauthor.com/
