Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love

Chapter 9 describes Shapiro’s phone conversation with Charlotte, her mother’s best friend and former sorority sister. Shapiro asks Charlotte about her parents’ fertility problems and the institute in Philadelphia. Charlotte admits to knowing that Shapiro was conceived by artificial insemination, but she is shocked to learn that Paul and Irene may have used a sperm donor. She reassures Shapiro that Paul is indeed her father, regardless of genetics. Shapiro wonders about the identity of her biological father.

Chapter 10 addresses truth. As a memoirist, Shapiro believes there is no such thing as absolute truth, only subjective truths. Experiences and memories vary, even for members of the same family. The only immutable facts are documentable, such as the weather on a particular day or the date of an event. The dearth of documentable facts about her past was daunting, so writing about her parents challenged Shapiro. She could not piece together their inner lives and thoughts with certainty, nor could they correct her when she went astray. The question of what her parents knew and when haunts her.