Beyond the Third Door

My book has three narrators: my birth mother, my adopted mother, and myself. It is the tale of two mothers and their connection to one child. One mother was shamed because she had a child and the other because she couldn't. I am one of 3,500 Greek orphans adopted to the U.S. in the 1950s. Conceived in an act of violence, I was born to an unwed mother who was exiled from her village home for 44 years. Homeless, she could not care for me and lost me to foreign adoption. Raised in California, I returned to Greece when I was 30 where, through a series of life-changing events, I reconnected with my birth mother. Finally, as the orphaned child, I tell my story. Based on primary documents and oral histories given by both mothers and my personal experiences, it is a tale so miraculous it reads like fiction.

My book has three narrators: my birth mother, my adopted mother, and myself. It is the tale of two mothers and their connection to one child. One mother was shamed because she had a child and the other because she couldn't. I am one of 3,500 Greek orphans adopted to the U.S. in the 1950s. Conceived in an act of violence, I was born to an unwed mother who was exiled from her island home for 44 years. Homeless and seven months pregnant in a large mainland city, she could not care for me and lost me to foreign adoption. Raised in California, I returned to Greece when I was 30 where, through a series of life-changing events, I reconnected with my birth mother. Finally, as the orphaned child, I tell my story. Based on documents and oral histories given by both mothers, and my experiences, it is a tale so miraculous it reads like fiction.

Maria Heckinger was born in Patras, Greece and raised in San Diego, California. She moved to Vancouver, Washington in 1981 where she lives with her husband Matt. After a 31-year career in elementary and middle school education, she enjoys spending time with friends and her veeeeerrrry extended family.