Stone Walls: An Ugly Duckling Story: An adoptee's search for identity, ""family,"" and understanding

— —

Sandra Patricia

Stone Walls

An Ugly Duckling Story: An adoptee's search for identity, ""family,"" and understanding

Sandra Patricia

$57.95 $49.02

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

FriesenPress
28 October 2025

Autobiography: general; Memoirs; Gender studies: women; Adoption & fostering; Adoption

Sandra Patricia grew up unwanted and unloved, only to become pregnant and give a daughter up for adoption. A few months later, Sandra is horrified to discover that she was adopted specifically to keep her adoptive parents from divorcing. Their unhappy and stressful marriage and family life fed years of depression, stress in Sandra's own marriage, and alcoholism.

When Sandra flees her husband and children and subsequently crashes her car, she is forced to face her addiction. As her life and marriage turn around through sobriety, she rebuilds her life, pursuing a university education and searching both for her own birth family and the daughter she gave up. Sandra's thirty-five-year search reveals power struggles with social service agencies, an outdated and barbaric social service system-both within Manitoba and throughout Canada-and a web of secrets, lies, and deception.

Stone Walls relates to all adoptees and birth families who search for connection and are denied relationships due to the outdated and cruel laws and practices of social service agencies and their personnel.

By: Sandra Patricia
Imprint: FriesenPress
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 19mm
Weight: 440g
ISBN: 9781038349811
ISBN 10: 1038349818
Pages: 330
Publication Date: 28 October 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Sandra Patricia studied adoption issues at university and seeks to educate people about some of the difficulties in adoption, adoptee struggles with identity, and the importance of sobriety. She lived the experience of being an adoptee, of abuse in an adoptive family, and of giving a child up for adoption. She lived with alcoholism and learned sobriety. She lived the experience of getting an education and of searching for and being denied information and connection. Sandra has learned that, ultimately, happiness and identity do not come from family but from within. She is firm in the belief that her life is not a theory; it is a lived experience. She lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.