1. Beginnings, Plural

All Eva Brookes knows about the beginning of her story is that she was found by the side of the road in China when she was three days old. Thirteen months later she was adopted by a white British couple and travelled to her new home in Essex.

Growing up in the UK, Eva felt British. But that’s not always how other people perceived her. For most of her life, she didn’t ask how that impacted her. She just tried to fit in - as a child, that felt safer than standing out.

Now, she wants to understand - how has the experience of being a transracial adoptee, born in one culture, raised in another, shaped how she understands herself now?

In this episode, Eva returns to her earliest memories in conversation with her adoptive family: parents Moira and Chris and sister Lara. Talking to psychotherapist Alison Roy, she reconsiders adoption not as a story she has already resolved, but as a trauma she is allowed to be curious about.

Writer, producer and presenter: Eva Brookes
Executive Producer: Peggy Sutton
Sound Designer & Mix Engineer: Jeff Emtman
Artwork: Ellie Walmsley
Assistant Commissioner: Prabhjit Bains
Commissioning Editor: Khaliq Meer

Made in China is a Reduced Listening Production with BBC Sounds Audio Lab.