Beautiful Bastards: An Adoption Odyssey of Three Generations by Ariel Rathbun

Beautiful Bastards is an adoption memoir revolving around three generations of women, mothers and daughters who begin life as strangers in a sphere of mystery and loss.

Carried in a celestial theme, the story follows a progression of moon phases, each reflecting the author's passage from conception to adoption, from childhood to sexual awakening, to the pivotal moment of her own teen pregnancy and relinquishment of her newborn.

Through a tapestry of poetry, myth, original art, prose and dreams, the author weaves in NASA images to reconstruct her past, her sense of self, family, love and connection.

The cosmos holds them all.

Beautiful Bastards: An Adoption Odyssey of Three Generations by Ariel Rathbun