AUSTIN, Texas — September 1, 2026 — Patricia Knight Meyer grew up believing she had been adopted. Then she discovered something far stranger. Her adoption had never legally happened.

According to her “adopters’, in 1970, Meyer was handed over as a newborn along a Texas hospital curb through an attorney-brokered arrangement involving no adoption agency, no judge and no legal adoption decree. She would spend decades trying to uncover the circumstances of her birth and placement — and would not obtain a legitimate birth certificate until she was 47 years old.

Now that story is attracting attention far beyond the adoption community. Metro UK published a major feature and interview with Meyer on September 1, bringing her story to a mainstream international audience ahead of the November publication of her memoir.

Early readers and reviewers have also been discussing the book across Instagram, TikTok, Goodreads and podcasts, while Meyer has participated in an extensive pre-publication podcast and media tour.

Publishers Weekly recently described WONDERLAND: Memoir of a Black-Market Adoption as “Meyer’s haunting debut” and “both a poignant personal narrative and a work of impressive reporting.”

Published by Unsolicited Press on November 3, 2026, WONDERLAND is part memoir, part investigation and part reckoning with an era of American adoption in which secrecy often took precedence over the identities and rights of the children involved.

SHE HAD NO BIRTH NAME, CONFIRMED BIRTHDATE OR ORIGINAL RECORDS. SO SHE STARTED SEARCHING.

At 12, Meyer learned that the birth certificate she believed existed did not.At 18, while pregnant with her own child, she learned that she had never legally been adopted.What followed was a decades-long investigation into her own identity.

Starting without an original birth record, known birth name, or confirmed date or place of birth, Meyer tracked down the attorney who arranged her placement, searched public records and eventually located both of her biological parents.

She also discovered a biological cousin who had been placed as an infant without adoption papers through the same attorney.

According to Meyer’s adoptive parents, the attorney who arranged her placement later repeatedly demanded money from them under the threat that they could lose the child they were raising. They ultimately reported paying approximately $30,000.The secrecy surrounding Meyer’s origins shaped not only her identity, but the family that raised her. WONDERLAND explores alcoholism, depression, disability, motherhood, family loyalty and the complicated reality of loving the very people who participated in keeping the truth from her.

Meyer eventually found her biological mother in the Houston, Texas area and her birth father in the Texas Hill Country.

Today, remarkably, she lives part-time in his former home.The filmed moment when Meyer first met her biological father has been viewed more than 290,000 times on YouTube.

FROM FAMILY SECRET TO A LARGER AMERICAN STORY

Meyer’s experience occurred during the final years of what is now commonly called the Baby Scoop Era, when millions of unmarried American women relinquished children for adoption amid intense social stigma and, in many cases, institutional pressure.

Her story also raises questions that extend far beyond one extraordinary family:

• Who owns the truth of a child’s identity?
• What happens when adoption operates in secrecy?
• What rights should adult adoptees have to the records of their own births?

And as reproductive policy changes across the United States:

• What lessons from America’s adoption history should not be repeated?

Meyer now speaks nationally as an adoption reform advocate and expert source on adoptee rights, sealed birth records, black-market adoption, search and reunion, and the historical practices that shaped modern American adoption.

“Wonderland is an important contribution to everyone in the adoption world,” writes Adam Pertman, author of Adoption Nation, Pulitzer Prize-nominated veteran journalist of The Boston Globe, and President of the National Center on Adoption and Permanency. “It provides a much-needed reminder of why transparency, equity, honesty, and adoptee-centered practices are vital. Oh, did I mention that it’s a compelling read for almost anyone?”

WONDERLAND: MEMOIR OF A BLACK-MARKET ADOPTION

Publication: November 3, 2026
Publisher: Unsolicited Press
Paperback: $24.95 | 372 pages
ISBN: 978-1-969421-96-9
Audiobook: Narrated by Patricia Knight Meyer

The book is already receiving significant recognition ahead of publication.

Winner — 2026 IndieReader Discovery Award, True CrimeAdditional recognition includes finalist honors from the Eric Hoffer Book Award, Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Storytrade Book Awards and Indies Today Awards, as well as runner-up recognition for the Magpie Zine Clark Closser Memorial Award for Nonfiction.

IndieReader called WONDERLAND “a once in a lifetime kind of work, staying with readers long after the last page is turned.”The book currently holds a 4.4-star advance-reader rating on Goodreads.

NOVEMBER 6: DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE — THE FIGHT FOR TEXAS ADOPTEES’ OWN BIRTH CERTIFICATES

Three days after publication, Meyer will bring the conversation home to Texas with a public program at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, TX. Friday, November 6, 2026. 
Texas Spirit Theater
Bullock Texas State History Museum
1800 Congress Ave., Austin

Doors open at 6 p.m. The program begins at 6:30 p.m.The evening opens with a theatrical performance of Chapter 18, “Roses and Thorns,” from WONDERLAND, followed by the panel:

BLACK MARKET TO BIRTH CERTIFICATES: ADOPTEE RIGHTS IN TEXAS THEN AND NOW

The discussion will be moderated by Emily Ramshaw, co-founder and CEO of The 19th and former co-chair of the Pulitzer Prize Board.

Panelists include:

• Marci Purcell, Adoption Knowledge Affiliates
• Renee Gelin, Saving Our Sisters
• Joellen Peters, Support Texas Adoptee Rights
• Patricia Knight Meyer, National Association of Adoptees and Parents

A reception and book signing follow from 7:45–9 p.m.

General attendance and livestream access are free. A $25 ticket option includes the reception and a copy of WONDERLAND.

The event is being held during National Adoption Awareness Month. Proceeds will support the event, with remaining funds donated to the National Association of Adoptees and Parents, Saving Our Sisters and Adoption Knowledge Affiliates.