I Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest
A Memoir
by Elaine Ross

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Elaine Ross grew up knowing she was adopted. Brought into a loving family on the Canadian prairies at eleven months old, she felt secure in the life she was given and the parents who chose her. For many years, that story felt complete. Gradually curiosity took hold. Believing she had two older brothers, she began a decades long search for the family she had come from, following incomplete records, official rejections, and long silences. What she discovered was unsettling. She was born in 1956 in a mental institution where her birth mother lived with severe mental illness during an era when women were routinely institutionalized and inadequately treated, and their stories erased. After meeting members of her birth family, a visit to her mother’s grave resulted in a moment of clarity that she hadn’t been looking for but couldn’t ignore. An unexpected connection with the woman who brought her into the world left Ross with the subtle yet compelling need to follow the traces of her mothers life. I Flew Out of the Cuckoo’s Nest is an emotionally honest story of one woman’s pursuit to discover where she came from, and to give voice to the mother she found. Ross explores the grief of adoption for everyone involved, and the reasons why so many adoptees feel the drive to find their families of origin.

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“This compact and powerful book is many things: the story of families lost and found, the story of one woman’s urgent need to know the truth about her origins, the story of her determined and tireless search, and the truly heartbreaking story of how one woman, Ann, was so often failed – as were many other women – by a system that should have supported and saved her. Elaine Ross, Ann’s daughter, has honoured her mother with this intimate and unblinking account of a beautiful life that was sadly derailed, nearly forgotten, but is here reclaimed.” --Bill Richardson, author and journalist “Elaine’s adoption reunion story grabs you by the hand and leads you along an exciting trail of adventure, mystery, and big emotions, culminating in a satisfying journey’s end. Her mother Ann’s story is written as a tender witnessing and honouring of her life which illuminates her and brings her home to her daughter.” --Catherine Moore, MA, RCC, author of the book Connections: Stories of Adoption and Reunions “We label: “Cuckoo’s Nest.” And we box-up: for years. Elaine Ross was not particularly curious about her own beginnings; she was content in her adopted life. But she opened to the complexity of being human, pieced together her birth mother’s story, and lives an enriched life as a result. This story is one of Courage!” --Alison Acheson, author of the novel Blue Hours, and the memoir Dance Me To The End: Ten Months and Ten Days with ALS.

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Elaine Ross lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband Greg. This is her first book. She hopes this book offers recognition, and encouragement to readers who feel the pull to know their own story.

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Contributors

Author

Elaine Ross

With

Cynthia Heinrichs