This gripping memoir details an ordinary American woman’s quest to adopt a baby girl from Guatemala in the face of overwhelming adversity. At only thirty-two years old, Jessica O’Dwyer experiences early menopause, which seems to seal the deal on whether or not she’ll ever become a mother. But years later, married but childless, she comes across a photo of a two-month-old girl on a Guatemalan adoption website—and feels an instant connection. After a year of efforts to adopt the girl, her adoption agency abandons her; undaunted, Jessica quits her job and moves to Antigua so she can bring her little girl to live with her and wrap up the adoption, no matter what the cost. Eventually, after months of disappointments, she finesses her way through the complicated adoption process and is finally able to bring her new daughter home.

Mamalita is as much a story about the bond between a mother and child as it is about the lengths to which adoptive parents go in their quest to become parents. At turns harrowing, heartbreaking, and inspiring, this is a classic story of the triumph of a mother’s love over almost insurmountable odds.