title: Letter to Louise: A Loving Memoir to the Daughter I Gave Up for Adoption More Than Twenty-Five Years Ago
author:  Pauline Collins 
description: Award-winning British actress Collins, of Upstairs, Downstairs TV fame, reveals that in 1964, at age 23, she bore a child and then gave her up for adoption. This diary-like story of her 1940s and '50s coming-of-age alternates with her descriptions of her acting days in the 1960s and the birth of Louise, fathered by an actor. The breezy narrative is rich in sketches of Collins's family and theater colleagues, along with tales of other pregnant young women who, like Collins, were in a convent being cared for by nuns in the weeks before and after delivery. Most affecting is Collins's account of her decision to give up the baby to a couple she judged better able to raise her. She did not see Louise again until the young woman sought her out 22 years later, and they "with unbelievable ease, slipped back into each other's lives." <br />Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  # A Letter from Jill
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  I want to say a huge thank you for choosing to read _Gracie’s Secret_. If you
  enjoyed it, and want to keep up-to-date with all my latest releases, just sign
  up at the following link. Your email address will never be shared and you can
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  [Sign up here!](http://www.bookouture.com/jill-childs-sign-up/?title=Gracies-
  Secret-&retailer=Google-Play)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  * * *
  
  
  I started writing this book when one of my twin girls – she was three at the
  time – started asking me tough questions. _Will you die, Mummy? If you do,
  will you miss me? Will I ever see you again?_
  
  
  I always try to tell the girls the truth but in this case, I struggled. Yes, I
  will die – hopefully not for a long time. And what will become of me
  afterwards? Well, I’m really not sure. Not very reassuring answers for a small
  child.
  
  
  But her questions also rekindled an idea I’d had years earlier. It was
  inspired by accounts of near-de