"Pulled by the Root by Heidi Marble and Alysa Zalma, MD, is a fascinating and compelling exploration of the complications of being adopted and how adopted people struggle to navigate the relationships adoption creates and also legally extinguishes. With Dr. Zalma's psychiatric analysis of Marble's challenges to maintain a complex web of relationships, the book becomes a tag-team effort to provide context to what we all struggle with as adopted people: meaning." -Greg D. Luce, Founder of Adoptee Rights Law Center, Executive Director of Adoptees United Inc.
". . . a remarkable book that sheds tremendous light on the experiences of adopted children as they navigate their lives." -Larry S. Sherman, Author, Public Speaker, Professor of Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, and President, Oregon and Southwest Washington Chapter, Society for Neuroscience
"Pulled by the Root is a delicate balance between Heidi's vivid recollections and feelings on her riveting journey of self-discovery and the insightful analysis of her experiences provided by Dr. Zalma. The harmonious convergence of the two voices creates a narrative that is both heart wrenching and heartwarming." -Charles Ragins, Two-Time Emmy Award-Winning Animation Designer, The Simpsons; Fine Artist, Writer, Adoptee
"I've know Heidi as one of my most popular breast-cancer-survivor speakers for fifteen years. Knowing how she's touched the hearts and minds with her sometimes brutal honesty and yet magical storytelling (with notes of ironic humor), I was not at all surprised by the frankness, beauty, and grace of her words in the memoirs. Along with psychiatrist Alysa Zalma's perspective, they blend each chapter with lived experience and psychological understanding. Among Heidi's many intimate revelations, she shares the gifts she inherited from both of her mothers. I was struck immediately by these words she wrote about her adopted mom: 'you used words like paintbrushes.' You will find her story engrossing, heart wrenching, and revealing in the depths of emotion of mother-daughter love, complicated by the torn-up roots that mark every adoption." -Barbara Christenson, Owner, Speak Well Being Group
"The adoptee experience is often one of isolation. This book provides the chance to be connected through shared experiences and emotions that are based in both science and spirit. It creates a space for introspection that feels raw yet safe. A space for vulnerability, courage, and ultimately healing." -Molly Washington, JD, Attorney at Law, N'dee/Apachee Adoptee
"Heidi Marble tells her adoption story of relinquishment with deep-felt emotions, depth, and rawness. Dr. Alysa Zalma's chapter analysis weaves in the science of how the body and mind experiences trauma, which gives the reader a deeper understanding of the complexities of the adoptee experience. It is an essential read that touches the heart." -Janet Nordine MS, LMFT, RPT-S, Adoptee
