When Art Imitates Life: Sci-Fi Romance Adoptee Characters

Before writing publicly about my adoption for the first time at Severance Magazine (“A Tale of Two Adoptees”), I wrote indirectly about being an adoptee in some of my science fiction romance books.

I was born in 1969 and adopted nine months later. The closed adoption meant I couldn’t have contact with my birth families. After learning I was an adopted person, I wanted to know my first mother. It’s a huge deal to discover you have a second set of parents out there, somewhere.

My adoptive parents described my relinquishment as an act of love on the part of my birth mother, so I always harbored affection for her. Yet for over fifty years, I could only daydream about meeting her.

When I became a sci-fi romance author in my thirties, I incorporated my adoption experience into some of my stories. The reason was a mix of “write what you know” and trying to process unresolved issues through art. My stories featured biological characters separated from their kin, found families, and adopted characters. In various ways, my fiction grappled with the aftereffects of being an adoptee.

Two of my books are most significant in this regard: my steampunk romance saga A Villainous Affair (2021) and my sapphic time travel romance Julie & Winifred’s Most Excellent Adventure (2022). Both feature clear adoption angles. I wrote those books between my late forties and early fifties.

Cover for Heather Massey’s time travel sci-fi romance Julie & Winifred’s Most Excellent Adventure

For Julie & Winifred’s Most Excellent Adventure, I based Julie on myself in a few ways. She’s a lifelong geek who loves science fiction and fantasy. She’s also biracial, bisexual, and adopted.

In the following scene, Julie reveals some of her background while the two main characters are becoming acquainted:

Julie chuckled while putting the tablet aside. “Funny either way.”

“Let’s return to the subject at hand. If I may, how old are you?”

“Thirty-five.” Julie grinned. “And you?”

Winifred’s shy smile preceded her answer. “Thirty-five.”

“Heh. That’s quite a coincidence.”

“Mhm.” Winifred drank more tea. “Next question. Who is your family?”

As if she would know them? I guess classist habits are hard to break. “I’m just a regular person with a regular family. I was born in Connecticut and my parents still live there. They adopted me when I was six months old. They’re white. I’m biracial because my birth mom was white, and my birth dad was African American. It was a closed adoption, so that’s all I know about them.”

Her racial ambiguity sometimes confused people, so she addressed the matter of her skin color as soon as possible when meeting new folks. It helped to avoid questions like, “What are you?” Microaggressions sucked even more when they came from potential dating partners.

Cover for Heather Massey’s steampunk romance A Tale of Two Thieves

In A Tale of Two Thieves (A Villainous Affair #1), one of the main characters, Ruby, is the typical “baby left on a doorstep” during an alternate history Victorian England. Here are some passages describing her relinquishment, abandonment, and subsequent adoption.

Ten-year-old Ruby had lived with Mrs. Harding in Brixton for as long as she could remember. The woman had adopted her when she was a mere babe. Exactly how old Ruby had been at the time was a detail lost to history. They lived in a modest home, which Mrs. Harding had inherited after her husband died. She supported them through midwifery and fostering babies…

…Despite her best efforts, Ruby couldn’t always keep her mouth shut. Her brain often pushed her to open it and more so as she grew older. Once in a great while, her questions yielded enough fruit to feed her curiosity.

“Who were my parents?” she once asked on a cold autumn day while polishing the furniture.

A fire burned in the hearth of the cramped parlor. Nearby, three quiet babies lay in bassinets. Ruby had recently given them their daily dose of sugar-water and they were sleeping it off. She dipped her linen rag into the tin of furniture polish, a mixture of turpentine, beeswax, and linseed oil. Though she’d barely started, the scent of pine wood already filled the room.

At this question, Mrs. Harding paused in her stitching. “Why do you ask?”

In truth, she had begun to wonder if there was more to her life than being Mrs. Harding’s servant. When she was old enough to understand, Mrs. Harding had explained that they were not blood relations. Ruby was her “chosen one,” whatever that meant. But it didn’t change the fact that somewhere out there her birth family existed. Perhaps they longed to be reunited with the daughter they had left behind. If they ever came looking for her, she should like to meet them. But sharing those thoughts might invite trouble, so she opted for a safer response. “Simply curious, ma’am.”

Mrs. Harding appeared thoughtful for a moment and then resumed stitching. “I didn’t meet your parents because they dropped you off on my doorstep and then disappeared. I asked around the village about them, but no one had spotted anyone arriving.”

Her birth parents could be anyone, then. “I probably felt cold and hungry.” And sad.

“No doubt,” Mrs. Harding said. “Finding you there was as though the Lord had answered my prayers. Rowland had passed not too long before, and I had grown dreadfully lonely. I said to myself, here is a chance for companionship and someone to care for me in my old age. I had to think of my future, you understand. You, of course, gained shelter and a new family. I daresay it turned out to be an excellent arrangement.”

…From that day forward, she thought long and hard about how to go about tracking down her birth parents. Each day presented a new obstacle, however, and like chasing a leaf on a windy day, her plan slipped further and further beyond her reach.

***

When Ruby’s abusive situation becomes unbearable, she runs away from Mrs. Harding, just as I moved away from my adoptive family after our relationship became strained. Unlike my adoptive parents, the adoptive parent in this story is pure evil, yet I still seem to have been working through some issues related to my adoption while writing A Villainous Affair. The story also acknowledges Ruby’s first mother’s difficult circumstances and how she lacked support to raise her child.

Cover for Heather Massey’s steampunk romance Battle Royale

This next passage is from the perspective of an adult Ruby and occurs in the final book, Battle Royale. Although I never felt abandoned by my original mother, my character did. Certain parts of the story are significant because they speak to my general mindset over the course of my life, i.e., that I never resented or blamed my first mother for relinquishing me.

Content warning: a reference to rape.

Having been unable to prevent terrible things from happening to her, she had invented a false personal history—one anchored by a brooch and its wildly embellished origin—to soothe herself after everyone who was responsible for her safety had failed her. The birthright story had helped her suppress the painful fact that her parents hadn’t wanted her. Hadn’t loved her enough to keep her. Or couldn’t afford to even if they’d so desired. In this world, destitute people kept rags full of holes longer than they kept children.

Even worse, she might have been born from rape, in which case she couldn’t blame her birth mother for abandoning her.

***

The above excerpts reflect my attempt to process my adoption by channeling it into my stories. Note how I framed Ruby’s situation in a non-blaming way, and when I never anticipated reuniting with my first mother.

Want to know more? Read “A Tale of Two Adoptees,” my essay at Severance Magazine. Thanks for your interest!