Who’s Wally? - Adoption, Brian, and Me.
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Excerpt from Chapter One - The Missing Allen Key
‘I'm writing these words to help myself. I need to know me. The real me, not the pretend me that so often, is the first person you speak to when you meet me, or at least that's how it feels.
The real me never feels part of a group, the real me refuses to let people in and runs away, the real me feels like a fraud in almost every situation, and breaks his back to help people or say the right thing just to feel acceptance. Like me, like me, LIKE ME!
The real me gets depressed, suffers weird moments of anxiety, and hates letting go of the gorilla grip he has on life for fear of losing control. I often feel trapped inside myself, holding myself back and that feeling is almost comforting. Like I'm at a funeral and I can't be seen to be happy for the sake of the other mourners. There’s much more that I’ll hopefully learn as I write.
I’m adopted. There, I said it!
After a year of some dark and miserable times, I thought “Wally, enough is enough, this has gone on too long”. I've not thought about being adopted much, it's just something that happened to that child fifty years ago that I feel no connection to, I was wrong.
Although I feel very little connection with ‘David’ (my birth name), he still plays a very big part in my thinking and decision-making, so I started to look deeper into myself and the effects that adoption has on my tiny adoptee's brain. The more I discovered about adoption and its ‘trauma’, the more I saw it in me.’
"I can't write a review that does this book justice. It is eloquent, emotional, amusing, compulsive reading. I am not adopted, I read a lot. I have never read anything that has drawn me in the way Andy and Brian did. This book deserves the widest possible audience."
— Mr T, Amazon Buyer
"Four pages in and I am hooked. I felt I needed to message you and thank you for even after only four pages of your book you are giving me the words that seemed to escape my adled brain . I cannot wait to explore the rest of your book (could be a long process as I have read and re-read page three about six times). I honestly want to give you the greatest respect for ripping that plaster off the great wound of adoption. Thank you!!!"
— Amazon Buyer
"Brilliant read. An honest, informative and witty account of a male adoptee’s journey through life filled with confusion, questioning and search for the truth.”
— Anna Anderson - Author Survival Without Roots trilogy
"Speaking as an adoptee Andy’s memoir resonates with me in so many ways. This book is written in a conversational style and does not shy awayfrom painful subjects but achieves a light touch which makes it eminently readable. "
— Amazon Buyer
An editorial report of Who’s Wally?
“This submission was found to be one of confronting honesty, intense expression, and contemporary in its accessible, personable authorial voice. A poignant, inspired, and assured work which transfixes the reader, resonating deeply and, at times, unable to be read with a catch in the throat as the emotion which drives the work is deeply evocative yet ultimately hopeful.
The autobiographic, human-focused approach allows the reader to form a personal attachment to the author, enabling them to empathise and experience the highs and the lows of the narrative alongside you. Heart-wrenching and emotional, there are moments of comedy, hope, and relief employed aptly throughout, further transporting the reader into not just your personal history but the message you strive to impart regarding adoption and its long-term effects on the lives of everyone involved."