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The Not-So Only Child: My True Story
Paperback
Biographies GeneralGeneral ParentingSelf-Help
Publisher: Rich Boerner
Published: Aug 26 2025
Pages: 188
Weight: 0.42
Height: 0.40 Width: 5.00 Depth: 8.00
Language: English
A True Story of Family Secrets, an Unknown Father, Coping with Grief, and Finding Hidden Siblings
A devastating discovery hidden in a nightstand rewrote everything Rich Boerner knew about family, and himself.
For 30 years, Rich lived with an unanswerable question: Who's your dad? His defiant single mom offered only a name, rank, and serial number story, leaving his father a ghost. Rich grew up believing he was an only child, just outside NYC. Then she died.
When Rich flew across the country to clean out his late mother's apartment, he expected grief and difficult memories. What he didn't expect was a complete family identity crisis. Hidden in a nightstand drawer, he found shocking evidence: his life as an only child was a lie, along with the true identity of his biological father.
But the revelations didn't stop there. Rich discovered secret letters his mom had written to baseball personalities, roller derby beat-writers, and overseas romantic pen pals-all leading to the realization that he had unknown siblings living just 20 miles away his entire life. A parallel family he never knew existed.
With equal parts humor, heartbreak, and razor-sharp storytelling, The Not-So Only Child is an inspiring true story about one man's emotional journey turned upside down by long-buried family secrets. What begins as grieving the loss of his mother becomes a life-changing search for truth-uncovering decades of silence, forbidden love, and lost family connections. Rich's voice is clear, vulnerable, and irresistibly engaging.
This is a memoir for anyone who's ever questioned their roots, lost a parent, or felt the pull of unfinished stories. It's a book about grief, resilience, and the healing power of truth-told by a natural storyteller who knows how to hold your attention and your heart.
Perfect for fans of Educated, The Glass Castle, Born a Crime, and family-secret memoirs, this dysfunctional family story delivers raw, vulnerable storytelling about identity, grief, and finding yourself when you learn that everything you believed was wrong. The Not-So Only Child reminds us that life's greatest plot twists don't come from fiction-but from the secrets we were never meant to find.
AUDIOBOOK LISTENERS: This memoir was created FOR audio and features a fully immersive soundscape with music and sound effects. Narrated by the author; a professional radio broadcaster and podcast pro. While the text versions are equally compelling, the audiobook is the premiere experience.
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