Duplicity: My Mothers' Secrets

Donna Freed discovered that her birth mother was a pair of infamous con artists, at the heart of one of the biggest true crime stories to grip the USA in the 1960s. Her mother faked her own death in a drowning accident for the double indemnity insurance money.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 320 pages
Publication date: 06 July 2023
Publisher: Muswell Press

Donna Freed embarked on a quest to uncover the identity of her birth mother after her adoptive mother passed away in 2009. What she uncovered was truly shocking—she was the daughter of a notorious pair of con artists, at the center of one of the most captivating true crime stories of the 1960s in the United States.

Previously redacted records from the infamous Louise Wise Services in New York revealed that Donna's mother, aged 27, was Jewish and single. Her father, aged 40, was Catholic, married with four children. They devised a plan to defraud an insurance company and escape to Spain to raise Donna.

Further investigation revealed that in 1967, Donna's mother, Mira Lindenmaier, faked her own death in a drowning accident off City Island in the Bronx to claim the double indemnity insurance money. Donna, who loved her adoptive mother dearly, was now eager to meet her birth mother and learn about the circumstances surrounding her abandonment.

How would Donna feel towards Mira, her real mother? How has becoming a mother herself impacted her feelings towards her two mothers? This extraordinary memoir is both gripping and fast-paced, tackling fundamental questions about motherhood and identity, nature versus nurture.

Dimension: 198 x 129 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781739638290