Sedona, AZ -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/05/2012 -- As Catana Tully attests, her life has unfolded ‘very much like a fairy tale’. From her humble beginnings born at the end of a Guatemalan jungle river, to her adoption by a German family, a life as an actress and model in Europe, to her eventual career as a college professor in the US, her life has been an engaging rollercoaster of change, adjustment and emotion. Wrapping her experiences up into a compelling new memoir, Tully’s story is finally out in the open.

Synopsis:

“In this memoir, the author explores questions of race, adoption, and identity, not as the professor of cultural studies she became, but as the Black child of German settlers in Guatemala.

Her journey into the mystery that shrouded her early years begins in the US when she realized it was not just her foreign accent that alienated her from Blacks. Under layers of privilege (private schools, international travel, the life of a fashion model and actress in Europe) she discovered that her most important story is one of disinheritance. The author’s determination to find out who her parents really were and why she was taken from them, tests the love of her White husband and their son, and returns her to Guatemala to find a family that kept her memory alive as legend.

In the end, she learns truths about the women who were her mothers, and the disrespect committed long ago against a birthmother and her child in the name of love.”

As the author explains, the themes represented in her book seek to provide solace for those who question their own identity.

“The themes I address in the book are offered from the perspective of the exotic child adopted into a White world; I reveal how the magic carpet my adoptive German mother so lovingly and carefully wove, could at times become a mangy rug to be cruelly pulled from under me. This book is a gift to parents who have adopted exotic children and to those children who are growing up removed and alienated from their ethnicity and culture,” says Tully.

Continuing, “While the story is highly personal, it resonates universally with men and women of all age groups. It is particularly important for adoptive parents, especially those who have adopted internationally; important for older "exotic" adoptees and those who are coming of age. It is a great story, well written and of general interest. Issues regarding birth mothers and adoptive mothers are central to the trajectory of the story.”

Since its release in October, ‘Split at the Root’ has garnered a consistent string of rave reviews.

“This beautifully written story is an emotional page turner, well set up in the beginning where you watch this child grow up in privileged surroundings, loved by all,” says Bridget F. Hedison, who reviewed the book on Amazon.

Another reader, Kim Luyckx, was equally as impressed. She wrote that, “Although Catana's story is unique and the book's setting is distinct, it is, in fact, everyone's story.”

‘Split at the Root’, published by CreateSpace, is available from Amazon: http://amzn.to/Vr2tne

The author’s progress can be followed on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Splitattheroot?ref=hl

Visit the book’s website: http://www.splitattheroot.com

About the Author: Dr. Catana Tully
Dr. Catana Tully grew up trilingual (German, Spanish, English) in Guatemala where she attended elementary and middle school. In tenth grade she entered a boarding school in Jamaica, WI and received her Advanced Level Higher Schools Certificate from Cambridge University, England. Expecting to become an international interpreter, she continued her studies at the Sprachen und Dolmetscher Institut in Munich, Germany.

However, she was called to work in a play and discovered her affinity for the dramatic arts. She became the actress and fashion model Catana Cayetano and appeared in Film and TV work in Germany, Austria, and Italy. In Munich she met and married the American actor Frederick V. Tully and ultimately moved to the United States. They have a son, Patrick. In Upstate New York, she completed the BA in Cultural Studies, an MA in Latin American and Caribbean Literature, and a DA (doctor of Arts) in Humanistic Studies. She held the position of tenured Associate Professor at SUNY Empire State College from which she retired in 2003, returning in 2005 for part time work in ESC’s Center for International Programs, where she served as Mentor and instructor in the Lebanon program, and as Interim Program Director for the Dominican Republic.

In 2011 she retired completely to dedicate herself to preparing Split at the Root for publication.