Love Never Leaves: A Memoir

Love Never Leaves is a memoir by Deborah Huse Blanchard, who gave up her biracial sons for adoption upon returning to her hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts, in the 1950s and receiving racist threats. Blanchard had met the boys' father as a student at the New England Conservatory of Music but had no idea of the racial turmoil that embroiled the country at the time. Her husband, George, warned Deborah of the difficulties they would face as a mixed couple. What he did not say, was that before long he would grow distant and cold, apparently troubled by experiences he had as a black classical musician and, as the new family expanded, a waiter in upper-class Boston establishments. Deborah, whose great love before George had been singing, returned to Lowell to resume life with her close-knit family. Instead, Lowell turned a cold shoulder and she began receiving threatening phone calls, saying she would never see her sons again if she sent them to school. Finally, she made the agonizing decision to place her sons for adoption. Extraordinarily, she demanded that they be placed with an African American family. She was not, however, able to maintain contact or oversight of any sort after the adoption took place due to the closed system that prevailed at the time. Only later was she to learn that her sons had been separated, to her great consternation. Before that, however, Blanchard spiraled into a deep depression that only began to fade years later after an employer recommended that she read the memoir of Boston Red Sox outfielder Jimmy Piersall, who had experienced similar episodes. She then vowed to find her sons once they came of age, which she did, beginning an ongoing effort to rebuild the bridges with her sons and their children. Paired with Blanchard's moving account are 23 other stories of adoption by adoptees and members of birth and adoptive families, including Blanchard's older son, George.