PATRICK CALLS ME MOTHER

This is the story of an odyssey for motherhood, as the author- after the breaking-off of an engagement,- is persuaded by a chance meeting with a Dutchman in America on a mission to get food for Europe's needy, to find a child from among them. There are the harried preparations for sailing with every conceivable necessity for any sized child; then the successive disappointments, the despair of waiting, searching, the failure to find the right baby, the interviews with the helpful but non-productive contacts through Holland, the decision to go to France for a last chance.... There, in the midst of illness, she found her baby, and then has the excitements of bringing him home. She had to get acquainted with him, be ready to cope with anything her new motherhood might entail, and settle him here. And the reward was worth it all. Behind the determined merry and gay approach is a story of real determination in face of so many obstacles that often the quest seemed hopeless, and there is an appeal for a wide audience -- not only among the many people interested in adoption, but in other families.