Our family histories, from political upheavals to personal choices, shape who we become, but how much do we really know about the lives of our parents and ancestors? Unlike many American immigrants who yearn to know the past when it is too late, Sophia has childhood memories of the old country and living relatives she can consult. She also has conflicting family stories and unanswered questions about her mother’s departure in her early life and her parents’ subsequent divorce. Did her mother leave voluntarily or was she banished? The author’s determination to better understand what really happened between her parents and the forces that shaped them takes her back to her childhood home in Greece and prompts a deep dive into patriarchal legal and social systems. Her American and education and experience in social work becomes a lens on her own childhood sense of abandonment and how it has affected her as a woman and daughter. This journey of reconnection to the past is written with compassion and insight and illuminates an era and social system in which women had little voice or choice.