On the Other Side of Shame

Lynette Langman's Telephone Rang on a Sunday Night in 2001, Heralding the Call That Would Unravel Her Life. for Forty Long Years, She Had Waited to Hear News About the Son She Gave Up for Adoption When She Was Virtually a Child Herself. His Birth Had Remained a Closely Guarded Secret, Hidden Even From Those Who Knew Her Best. and Now Her Disclosure Would Unleash Years of Bottled Questions and Confessions. As a Young Girl Growing Up in 1960'S South Africa, Lynette Knew That Her Illegitimate Pregnancy Would Be a Scandal From Which Her Conservative Jewish Family Would Never Recover. She Hid Her Condition Until She Was Seven Months Pregnant, and Already a Long Way From Childhood Innocence. When Her Parents Finally Discovered the Truth, the Baby's Adoption Was a Foregone Conclusion; They Would Not Consider Any Alternative, Including That of Marriage Between Lynette and Her Then-Boyfriend Max. for the Young Lovers, It Was an Early Trial That Forged a Bond Which Remains Unbroken. They Eventua