'Love Susan': A Heartfelt Exploration of Adoption Through the Eyes of the Adoptee is a powerful and insightful work by broadcaster and author Susan Vickers about her personal journey as an adoptee, looking at the the complexities of adoption and what the emotions and feelings may be.

Susan was adopted in the 1970s and detailed her experiences in her previous book "Traced" of the traumatic experiences she and her family went through, and the journey of finding her biological parents.

She said the new book was a way to show the other side of adoption and shine a light on the difficulties faced by those entering new homes.

She said: "When people talk about adoption, they talk about it from a very personal point of view, as in 'we wanted children, so we adopted as we had all this love to give' and it's not often you hear from the point of view of the adoptee themselves and how it feels to be adopted.

"We've all seen these programmes about families adopting and how they all live happily after and, to be honest, that's not always the case and it's not always sunshine and roses, so I think it's good for people to be able to see that side of it.

"People think that once you are adopted out of the care system, you're grateful to have a roof over your head and be in a family and we definitely are, but there's so much more to it and we need more than just love, we need empathy and understanding and all the things you need to carry into adult life."

Ms Vickers said that every time she spoke at an event or with people about the book, she always met people with similar stories to her that they had never told other people before.

She said the writing of both books had been emotional, but stopped short at saying it had been cathartic, saying that it opened up her eyes to herself as a young child and how she felt about life.

She said: "I kind of opened my eyes and looked as a third person on the story of me as a little girl and I kind of felt sorry for that young girl for everything she went through.

"People who go through adoption or end up in foster care are in that position through no fault of their own and you find yourself questioning whether it was something you did and whether you were a naughty child and whether your parents didn't love you.

"That made me through through every single emotion as I wrote the book because it made me think about things that I'd gone through as a child and put to the back of my mind and, deep down, we all still hold things in a Pandora's box and deal with the sense of loss and insecurity."

Ms Vickers will be welcoming the public to Wolverhampton Library on Saturday, October 14 to hear her read passages from her book, answer questions and also feature speeches from people such as the Mayor of Wolverhampton Dr Michael Hardacre.

To find out more about the event and about Susan Vickers in general, go to susanvickers.com.

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