Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love

Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love is a nonfiction book by Dani Shapiro, an American writer, teacher, and podcast host. The title refers to the myriad things Shapiro inherited from her parents, such as physical features, emotions, and trauma. A New York Times best seller, Inheritance is a meditation on the meaning of parenthood, the ethics of sperm donation, and the quandaries of genetic testing. This summary refers to the 2019 edition published by Alfred A. Knopf, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House.

Summary

Shapiro organizes the material chronologically with flashbacks, dividing her memoir into four parts. Part 1 describes the circumstances that led her to take a DNA test, her puzzled reaction at the results, and her realization that the man who raised her, Paul Shapiro, is not her biological father. Events from her past come flooding back, notably, a decades-old conversation with her mother, Irene, who revealed that Shapiro was conceived by artificial insemination.

In Part 2, Shapiro reaches out to friends and family members who might have information about her parents’ fertility problems. She also contacts a genealogy expert who helps her identify her biological father, Ben Walden. Shapiro suggests a face-to-face meeting after exchanging polite but cautious emails with Ben.

Part 3 opens with Ben rejecting Shapiro’s invitation to meet and cutting off contact. Angry and hurt, Shapiro researches Ben’s family, the history of sperm donation, and the fertility institute where she was conceived. Ben reconsiders Shapiro’s invitation. They have lunch with their respective spouses in New Jersey.

In Part 4, Shapiro comes to terms with the truth about her origins. She forges a long-distance friendship with her half-sister, Emily, gets a symbolic tattoo of a swallow with two compasses, and legally changes her given name from Daneile to Dani. The memoir ends with Shapiro presenting at Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon. Shapiro feels her father’s presence as she gazes at Ben and his family in the audience.