Cultural Identity

With a Burmese mother and a white American father, Alex Wagner grew up thinking of herself as a "futureface" - an example of what the mixed-race future of America would look like. When Alex learns that her ancestry might be more mysterious than she believed, she becomes obsessed with learning everything there is to know about her ethnic and racial history. Through a blend of history, science, and sociology, Alex tries to solve the mysteries of her family and what it means to be American.

For Lucy, marriage to Mark provides an anchor after several years of drifting casually across countries, into jobs and out of relationships. Now 42, prickly and restless, her anchor is working loose. Bewildered by the demands of motherhood, bored by her work, she has grown resentful of her husband: Mark has difficulties of his own and whilst harsh self-reliance has kept him sane and earned him success, it has alienated his wife.

By the time Brittany Penner is seven years old, she has loved and lost twenty-one foster siblings who have come into her family and left—all of them Indigenous like her. "When will it be my turn?" she asks her mother time and time again. "When will I be taken away?" You won't be, she is told. You're adopted. You're here to stay. You're the lucky one.