Adopted at birth into a loving and proper English family, at the age of twenty-eight Alison Larkin looked for and found her birth mother in Tennessee. The experience brought her closer to her adoptive family, while answering key questions about her identity, both personal and cultural. In contrast to the way adopted people are so often portrayed, THE ENGLISH AMERICAN is a fast, funny and fearless autobiographical novel with an adopted heroine at its center, a perspective rarely granted a genuine voice in literature. The book is currently under option to Bright Pictures, UK to be turned into a feature film.

THE ENGLISH AMERICAN is one part tea and crumpets and one part Coke and fries. Leaders in the adoption community consider it a “must-read” for anyone connected to adoption or foster care.

A comedienne and classically trained actress who has appeared on Broadway and London’s West End, Alison captivates audiences as she tackles difficult questions in song. The experience of being both English and American is addressed in “Culture Conflict,” differences between child and parents are reasons to “Celebrate,” and the importance of knowing one’s origins is answered in “The DNA Song.”

The president of one adoption organization noted, “Our conference was packed because of Alison… It was refreshing to have such healthy doses of humor injected into what is so often a serious, even dour, dialogue…I believe that being able to use humor when examining serious matters is a rare gift that helps shed new light on the truth.”

Reviews:

Based on her semi-autobiographical one-woman show of the same title, Larkin's debut novel takes a comedic but heartfelt look at issues of identity, heredity and self-acceptance. Pippa Dunn—British, 28 and living with her sister in West London—loves her adoptive parents dearly, but has rarely felt at home with the primness and very British emotional restraint with which she was raised, as her funny, anxious narration demonstrates. When Pippa discovers that her birth mother, Billie, is an American (from Georgia, no less) she feels compelled to travel to the U.S. to meet the the sweet, understanding, empathetic ethereal mother she's always imagined. Not surprisingly, both Billie and Pippa's birth father, Walt, fail to live up to her imagined ideals. Although Larkin's premise leads to worthy reflections in Pippa's winning voice, awkward attempts to marry the birth-mother search to a conventional romantic comedy plot are less successful. Through a midbook e-mail exchange, we learn that Pippa met her soul mate, Nick (now a banker in Singapore), in a London park seven years before, but wasn't ready to feel love. Nick the banker-cum-painter is far too tortured and emotive to be believable, and the ensuing romantic revelations are predictable. Pippa, however, is a complex, compelling character—truly an amalgam of her heredity and her environment—and readers will root for her as she uncovers her roots and finds herself. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

—Publishers Weekly

Despite loving her English mum and dad dearly, Pippa Dunn—adopted as an infant from America—never feels she fits into her family. Her fear of abandonment has her looking for the wrong men, in order to leave them before they leave her. At the age of 28, Pippa goes to America seeking her birth parents: beautiful, artistic Billie and her married lover, Walt, who gave up their daughter for the sake of their relationship. The first blush of parental love is intoxicating, with Pippa seeing her traits in others and feeling truly free to express herself. Then reality (Billie’s possessiveness, Walt’s evasiveness) sets in, and Pippa faces the issue of nature versus nurture. Pippa’s long-distance correspondent through all this is fellow adoptee Nick Devang, but her true source of support is right in front of her. A predictable romantic outcome is easily forgiven, given comedienne-actress-playwright Larkin’s vivid description of the obstacles facing adoptees who find their birth parents. Drawn from Larkin’s own life, this debut novel—like Pippa herself—is smart, funny, and utterly charming.

—Michele Leber, Booklist

At age 28, Londoner Pippa Dunn is flogging along, suffering a job beneath her talents, failed personal relationships, and her dull and predictable parents and sister. Then her life is struck by a boomerang when she searches out her birth parents, who turn out to be Americans, Southerners, outgoing, gregarious, and attractive. Billie, Pippa's birth mother, an art promoter of sorts, is utterly self-obsessed and wants her daughter as a mirror image. While charismatic, her birth father, Walt, is involved in somewhat dubious business affairs. Deceptively simple in framework, the novel successfully veers between poignancy and outrageous humor, with Larkin having great fun with English and American cultures as Pippa navigates her way through the culture clashes and extended families to recognize her unique, quirky self. Larkin, who was born in the United States and adopted at birth by British parents, has a successful one-woman comic show called The English American, which has played to acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic; this first novel is a more fictionalized account of that show. The author's coverage of adoptee rights makes it an especially timely addition to public libraries.

—Mary Margaret Benson, Library Journal

About the Author:

Alison Larkin was adopted at birth in Washington, D.C. by British parents and raised in England and Africa. After graduating from London University and the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, she appeared in classical British theatre. Then she found her birth mother in Tennessee, moved to New York and became a stand-up comic. Within three years she was put under studio development contract by Jim Henson Productions, ABC and CBS, to star in and co-write her own sitcom. She has appeared on Broadway and her wide range of character voices can be heard in movies and cartoons from work by Robert Altman to The Wonderpets. Her internationally acclaimed one-woman show, The English American, was a highlight of the London Comedy Festival and has been seen in concert performance across the United States. She lives in Northern New Jersey with her husband and two children.

Visit Alison's Website