A Princess Found
An American Family, an African Chiefdom, and the Daughter Who Connected Them All
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- £8.99
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- £8.99
Publisher Description
Sarah Culberson was adopted one year after her birth by a loving, white, West Virginian couple and was raised in the United States with little knowledge of her ancestry. Though raised in a loving family, Sarah wanted to know more about the birth parents that had given her up. In 2004, she hired a private investigator to track down her biological father. When she began her search, she never imagined what she would discover or where that information would lead her: she was related to African royalty, a ruling Mende family in Sierra Leone and that she is considered a mahaloi, the child of a Paramount Chief, with the status like a princess. What followed was an unforgettably emotional journey of discovery of herself, a father she never knew, and the spirit of a war-torn nation. A Princess Found is a powerful, intimate revelation of her quest across the world to learn of the chiefdom she could one day call her own.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
As a biracial child adopted into a nurturing white middle-class family in West Virginia, Sarah Culberson experienced warmth, stability and personal fulfillment while growing up. Like most adopted children, Culberson had questions about her biological roots, and as a biracial child dealt with the additional emotional burden of negotiating the world of racial identity. After being questioned by a teacher as to why she wore blue contact lenses, a stunned and embarrassed Culberson begins the journey to find-and embrace-her roots. Her story quickly becomes extraordinary, as she discovers her father is not just alive and living in Africa, but is part of African royalty, making her an African princess. This entertaining, informative, inspiring memoir is told through two narratives taken up in alternating chapters: one details Culberson's story of growing up, going off to college, and ultimately establishing a life for herself in the arts; the other recounts her father's incredible story of falling in love with Culberson's American mother, his struggle to keep his family alive during Sierra Leon's brutal civil war, and the remarkable reunion of father and daughter.
