Those Three Words is a story about adoption -- and so much more.
It's a story about the agony of an unplanned pregnancy and the importance of choice. It’s a story about the deep and unbreakable bond of maternal love. It's a story of family, love, forgiveness and acceptance.
"Bauer infuses a very serious and beautiful story with humor, warmth and wisdom...A simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking tale about time and love lost, rediscovered and strengthened."
- Publishers Weekly, Book Life Awards Review
Purchase directly from the author or these retailers: Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
About the author
Christine (Chris) Bauer is writer and communications professional living in Minneapolis. Those Three Words is her first book. Her writing on topics of adoption, choice, mental health and more has appeared in the Star Tribune, the University of Minnesota alumni magazine, Brave Love, Gift of Adoption and America Adopts.
Chris has been a featured speaker at adoption conferences and events. She has loved reading and writing for as long as she can remember and has recently added painting and artwork to her creative outlets.
Her greatest achievement and most profound joys are being the mother of three kind-hearted children and two beautiful grandchildren.
Media Coverage
Reviews
"Author Chris Bauer captivated me with every word in her new adoption memoir. Adoption triad friends:
This is a must read!"
Rachel Garlinghouse
Author, The Hopeful Mom's Guide to Adoption and Encouragement for the Adoption and Parenting Journey, and others; leading blogger and adoption advocate
"You will laugh and you will cry as Christine tells her story. It is poignant and brings to light the harrowing decision a woman must make when she’s unexpectedly pregnant and not in a place in life where she is prepared to become a mother. I believe everyone involved won in this case. Beautiful and insightful writing. I would like to read more by this author."
Brenda Kula
Founder Cozy Little House & Adoptive Mom
"Bauer deftly addresses one of the most wrenching and emotional decisions one might confront: how to respond to an unexpected pregnancy. With candor and grace, she leads reader on a thought-provoking journey filled with unexpected twists and turns. I couldn't put it down."
Caryn M. Sullivan
Author of Bitter or Better: Grappling with Life on the Op-Ed Page
Winner of the 2015 Midwest Book Award for Inspiration.
"Those Three Words is a powerfully emotional memoir of a young woman’s choice, the miracle of chance connections & the unbreakable bonds of maternal love...I cried, laughed & held my breath.”
Michelle Madrid-Branch
Author of Adoption Means Love and Host of The Greater Than Podcast
"It was completely honest and raw at times. It is definitely a book I recommend to anyone who wants a glimpse into the journey of a birth family. If you are a birth family, an adoptive family, or an adoptive child I believe this story can offer you a perspective, but more than that it can offer healing."
Dawn Wright
Adoption Consultant
"On its surface, Christine Bauer's Those Three Words is an engrossing memoir detailing a young birthmother's hard path toward fulfillment and happiness. But even stronger currents race deeper down, about the difficulty of acceptance, the power of family, and the nature of love. Reading it is a moving and unforgettable experience."
Jack El-Hai
Author of The Nazi and the Psychiatrist and The
Lobotomist, and past president of the American Society of Journalists and Authors
"As a young girl, I was proud to be adopted. I was chosen. Then, after giving birth to my first child, I paused and was overcome with grief. How could any loving woman give up a baby?
Chrisy's book helped me understand the love, agony, and courage needed to be a birth mother, to do what's right for yourself, and for the helpless human you've brought into the world."
Lory Sutton
Chief Marketing Officer
Minnesota Historical Society
"I’ve long tried to imagine what my birth mother’s life might have been like — what her hopes and fears might have been, and from where her strength and support might have come, first as she made the decision to give me up for adoption and then as the time came and she followed through. “Those Three Words,” a deep and personal exploration of Christine Bauer’s own experience as a birth mother, helps to fill in what that missing context might be. But as Bauer’s story confirms, I’ve had one thought about adoption right all along: It is an act of love.
This book, though, is not just for those with a stake in the adoption process. It’s for anyone who understands that at any moment there are threads of pain and joy and conflict and redemption winding through the lives around them, and who would like to hear about one such set of life experiences, in an extended story compellingly told.
David Banks
Assistant Editor, Editorial/Opinion
The Star Tribune
Connect with Chris!
For book club meetings, events, and speaking engagements, please contact Chris at: