Releasing on August 25, 2026, Splintered Shadows: Recovering a French Résistante is an unconventional adoptee-search narrative told against the backdrop of World War II. After the War, Andrée married an American serviceman, left France, and carried the story of her earlier life to her grave. Her adoptive daughter, Marilyn Moriarty, was left with only fragments—photographs, names, and unanswered questions that hinted at a past far more complicated than it appeared. Given only a single name on a 1945 photograph, Moriarty searches through her mother’s past across Europe, uncovering a hidden life shaped by secrecy, imprisonment, and dangerous choices in Nazi-occupied France.
Early reviewers have already begun sharing their enthusiasm for Splintered Shadows, recognizing the book for its historical research and personal account of Marilyn Moriarty’s search for her mother’s past.
Early Reviews
Marilyn Moriarty’s quest for her mother’s secret past quietly screams of love. In this exquisite memoir, Moriarty deftly telescopes from her own unending grief to all of France’s in World War II. Fueled by a will as strong as her mother’s, her pursuit is worthy of a movie.
— Mary Carter Bishop, author of Don’t You Ever: My Mother and Her Secret Son
Marilyn Moriarty brilliantly intertwines history, memory, family, and identity as she searches for the truth about her mother. This deeply researched and gorgeously written book illuminates the hidden contributions of women during WWll and the culture of silence that followed. A must-read for anyone trying to understand our fractured past.
— Dawn Raffel, author of The Strange Case of Dr. Couney: How a Mysterious European Showman Saved Thousands of American Babies
Preorder Your Copy Now
Visit the UNG Press Books Website to preorder your copy of Splintered Shadows today.
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