An Exploration of Life, Love, and Loss
You’ll Forget This Ever Happened: Secrets, Shame, and Adoption in the 1960s
… is the story of Laura, an unwed teenager whose life takes a dramatic turn when she gives birth to her first-born son in New Orleans Louisiana in July of 1967 and is forced to relinquish him for adoption. It is an unforgettable story of a mother’s love and the secret she never forgot. It will answer questions in ways that will surprise you while revealing a world not that long ago that was harsh and judgmental in ways we cannot even imagine today.
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Praise
“Devastating and stunning—alive with attention to the abundance of the heart—this memoir will stay with you.”
—Julie Maloney, award-winning author of A Matter of Chance
“Engel’s transformation from lost girl to grounded matriarch is deeply moving, a story that stays with you long after you reach the last page.”
—Eileen Drennen, writer and editor whose essays have appeared in Literary Mama, The Rumpus and O, The Oprah Magazine
“Through her narrative, insightful self-revelations, struggles and willingness to expose her trauma, Engel creates an experience of intimacy for the reader that establishes a soulful friendship.”
—Kelly DuMar, author of Girl in Tree Bark
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Five Months In
Corona Virus. When I first read the reports in January. I thought, what is a corona virus? It seemed so far away. I did my ‘go-to-reaction’ when something or some word left me uneasy or when that little red flag warning flickered inside my chest. My go to was a...
My 2019 Love Letter to You All
As the Holiday Season peaks and we rush head long into Christmas along with the closing of 2019 this is a love letter to all who have supported and cheered me on with my writing this year.Many of you have asked so I wanted to let you know where I’m at with my memoir,...
Summer Dreaming
I’m in my home office getting ready to hit the ‘submit button’ on the computer screen.Submitting my work for our local Memoir Showcase is as scary for me today as it was that firsttime I submitted work in June of 2017. At that time my Memoir was simply an outline,...
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Meet Laura
Laura L. Engel likes to say she is late to the game as a budding new author. Originally from Biloxi, Mississippi, Laura has lived in Southern California for over 50 years. She and her husband, Gene are the proud parents of six grown children along with their significant others. They are delighted to be Grammy and PaPa to ten grandchildren.
Recently retired after 30 plus years as a regional sales representative for an international title insurance company, Laura left the corporate world and plunged headlong into her second career as a writer in 2017.