A page turner. I was inspired by Robin’s capacity to forgive and forge ahead. Her very exciting work stories were my favorite parts, spanning the globe and covering stints in media relations, presidential campaigns, the Olympics. Her stories about growing up and her neglectful family will brake your heart, while her capacity for love and compassion toward them will serve as an inspiration to be a better person.
Have some tissues nearby, because you will need them. And turn off your phone, because you won’t want to be interrupted once you start reading. - Victoria
Robin Schepper writes as she is talking to one of her girlfriends with honesty and humor. Challenged from an early age to find her own way, she perseveres to create a life and family of her own making. Her memoir provides a road map on how to balance life, love and fun. She teaches us to be brave and to be candid as we craft our own narrative. I couldn’t put her book down. - Caroline
A remarkable page-turner. A portrait of being self-raised in NYC with only street smarts, focus and exceptional drive to guide the way. We can all learn life lessons from this spell-binding memoir. - Maniac
WOW! Robin’s crafted a jaw-dropping page-turner account of her growing up years as the self directed daughter of a single mom in the NYC of the 70s. Her story is at once devastating, in its description of the myriad obstacles life threw in her path, and inspirational in the way Robin surmounted each and every single one, without bitterness, emerging all the stronger in the end. Great book. Exceptional human. - Shoenly
Schepper's book feels like it should be a movie. She was pretty much raised on her own from the age of 15 in Manhattan. Her story recounts her ability to not just survive, but thrive, creating an extraordinary life for herself.
The settings alone make it a must-read journey: from New York City in the 70s to Washington, D.C., Athens, Prague, California and beyond...it's a really compelling ride. Layer into that the author's fierce determination to find answers about her biological father, and create the family life she so earnestly craved growing up.
Schepper's voice is open, brutally honest and conversational. She tackles issues about truth, authenticity, family. Great read! - LK
What a fascinating life the author has led. Basically living on her own in NYC by the time she was 15, Schepper figured out how to make her own way, but always questioning the family history that was only parceled out in small portions, especially pertaining to her biological father.
I found her search for her true history to be the most interesting part. I wish she had included more of her grandmother’s story there appeared to be a lot of material to cover.
Schepper has accumulated a lot of experience and travel for a woman who fought to carve her own path in the world. - JK
Finding My Way was a fascinating glimpse into the life of Robin Schepper with no details spared. It was so raw and real that I almost felt guilty as if reading someone's journal. The closest comparison I have is Michelle Obama's Becoming which provided such vivid details into the life of such an interesting and remarkable woman. Robin has lead an equally impressive life, having overcome so much to climb high in politics and triumph in life amidst so many obstacles. Thank you Robin for so intimately baring your soul and sharing your story to inspire us all. - Alyssa
Robin's story is one of tough relationships, adventure, and family. Robin shares her worldly experiences of growing up and going through life as a daughter, a feminist, a partner, and a mother. Just when you think you know where her life's story might be going, there is another adventure around the corner. Robin has had an extraordinary life and I loved how this book brought you on her journey of understanding her roots as you think of your own. - Bert
Robin's story is one of tough relationships, adventure, and family. Robin shares her worldly experiences of growing up and going through life as a daughter, a feminist, a partner, and a mother. Just when you think you know where her life's story might be going, there is another adventure around the corner. Robin has had an extraordinary life and I loved how this book brought you on her journey of understanding her roots as you think of your own. - Roberta
I am loving this book-a window into the life of an intrepid girl, growing up, practicing courage. The author writes as if she is five, when she is five, thirteen, when she is thirteen. You grow up alongside her. - Annie
Beautifully written and engaging memoir. The author’s honesty in sharing details of her life is both moving and inspiring. Highly recommend. - Anne
What a fascinating life the author has led. Basically living on her own in NYC by the time she was 15, Schepper figured out how to make her own way, but always questioning the family history that was only parceled out in small portions, especially pertaining to her biological father.
I found her search for her true history to be the most interesting part. I wish she had included more of her grandmother’s story there appeared to be a lot of material to cover.
Schepper has accumulated a lot of experience and travel for a woman who fought to carve her own path in the world.- Janilyn
"Finding My Way is more than a book. It is storytelling from an author who brings readers into her closest circle of friends, sharing the details of her life that her questions, challenge her values, demonstrate her capacity to achieve and willingness to love in spite of the obstacles in her path from her earliest days of childhood." Kiki McLean, public affairs and political strategist.
"Robin Schepper writes as she is talking to one of her girlfriends with honesty and humor. Challenged from an early age to find her own way, she perseveres to create a life and family of her own making. Her memoir provides a road map on how to balance life, love and fun. She teaches us to be brave and to be candid as we craft our own narrative. I couldn’t put her book down."
-- "I am loving this book-a window into the life of an intrepid girl, growing up, practicing courage. The author writes as if she is five, when she is five, thirteen, when she is thirteen. You grow up alongside her." -- Annie Wohlgenant
-- "...What Schepper describes as “the shame of the truth, and the work of keeping all these secrets hidden from the outer world” combined to make her intensely insecure and uncertain of her own worth. But instead of succumbing, she decided to “create my own worth and show everyone that a bastard child could succeed.” Which she did in no small measure.... -- Anne Green
Robin F. Schepper
Girl Friday Books (Apr 18, 2023)
Hardcover $28.95 (396pp)
978-1-954854-96-3
Clarion Rating: 4 out of 5
Written with gravitas, the memoir Finding My Way is about leading a purposeful life and imparting knowledge with dignity and honesty.
Robin Schepper’s memoir Finding My Way interrogates the past to nurse ambitions for the future.
Schepper was born in California in the 1960s. Her mother was a flight attendant for Pan Am; the father’s name listed on her birth certificate was incorrect. The mother-daughter duo moved to New York to live near Schepper’s German grandmother, a masseuse whose studio offered other services too. As a result, Schepper’s childhood was full of secrets and unknowns. In adulthood, adherence to truth became her mission.
At school, Schepper lobbied for more sex education. During college in California, she tried to locate her father. Using her German skills and air travel habits, she studied and lived abroad too. Later, she worked on political campaigns (including Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative), planned big events (like the Olympics in Greece), and ran a communications firm, in addition to getting married and adopting two sons. After learning about her biological father, she reconciled with the mother and grandmother whose traumas hurt her but gave her grit.
Revealing secrets and dispelling the associated shame, the book shares difficult stories about hasty moves, family conflicts, and colorful dating experiences. Its momentum is strong, and its prose has a spontaneous quality—both candid and conversational, marked by exclamations, soul-searching, and entertaining anecdotes. But its use of superlatives compromises its otherwise convincing explanations of its positions. And the book’s chapter titles, which feature repeating dates, interrupt its natural, chronological flow, while the included photographs, which are inserted in the middle of the book, don’t all make sense until the book is complete (and some spoil later surprises).
The political arenas in which Schepper worked end up coloring and sharpening the text. Determined to find out the truth about her past, she wound up fighting for transparency in democracy too. She was prompted to end relationships based on her own desires for independence and to support her aspirations. Further, during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, Schepper’s painful memories of abuse were triggered, leading her to pursue justice. Indeed, she used her personal history to chart a vision for the future. Without dwelling on mistakes, the book works toward a hopeful ending with lessons that are applicable to other seekers too.
Written with gravitas, the memoir Finding My Way is about leading a purposeful life and imparting knowledge with dignity and honesty.
Reviewed by Mari Carlson
November 28, 2022
Jo Guest (Reviewer) has just submitted Feedback for Finding My Way.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Full Text:
Enjoyed reading this book about a little girl who you grow up with as you read it. She is resilient and determined well above her age. It is not surprising she ends up with a very prestigious job working in the White House.
FINDING MY WAY
A Memoir of Family, Identity, and Political Ambition
Author: Robin F. Schepper
Review Issue Date: February 15, 2023
Online Publish Date: January 21, 2023
Publisher: Girl Friday Books
Pages: 396
Price ( Hardcover ): $28.95
Publication Date: April 18, 2023
ISBN ( Hardcover ): 9781954854963
Section: NonFiction
A political operative recounts her long struggle to find her biological father.
Schepper, born in America but a German speaker until entering school in Manhattan, was raised by a single mother who “was called a bastard child in the Catholic Church” because she gave birth to her daughter out of wedlock. Her mother, an international flight attendant, was always vague about the father’s identity. (In an intriguing passage, Schepper speculates on her mother’s relationship with the Indonesian dictator Sukarno: “If Dr. Sukarno had been successful in his advances toward my mom, she might have become one of his wives—and I would have never existed.”) The author’s grandmother ran a brothel, which required Schepper’s intervention when Nana was back in Germany and “some of the girls wanted to do house calls to make more money, which was against Nana’s rules of operating her business.” Work in the film business and then politics followed, with Schepper always on the lookout for clues and DNA that would establish the facts of her parentage. The clues her mother left were unhelpful, but Schepper proved to be an adept investigator, stymied but never broken by a long chain of dead ends and false leads. Unfortunately, some of the matters that she would have profitably spent more time on go by in a flash, such as her service in the West Wing as the head of Michelle Obama’s program to encourage young people to exercise. Where she could go deeper into the inner workings of political campaigns, the writing often falls flat: “I worked the event in Boston for election night, when Dukakis lost to George H.W. Bush. It was hugely demoralizing, as we all feared how Bush would lead our country.” Adoptees and those in search of birthparents may find the example of Schepper’s perseverance to be inspiring, but a handbook for political advance work it’s not.
Copyright © 2023 Robin F Schepper - All Rights Reserved.
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