Identity
Kay states that there are two kinds of adopted children: the first kind have no interest in finding out where they came from or tracking down their biological parents, and the second kind are obsessed with the idea of where they came from. She falls heavily into the second category but wishes that she fell into the first because she feels that she might have an easier time finding her own sense of self if that were the case.
Identity is one of the book's main themes; Kay wants to know who she is and where she comes from but she is also searching for her own identity. Is she the person she is because of nature or nurture? There are many questions in her mind and the only way in which she believes she might be able to answer them is to find out who her parents were and what were the circumstances of her birth.
Cultural Identity
When Kay discovers that she has two biological half sisters and that they look just like her, she begins to feel a cultural identity that she was unsure about previously. She knows that within her community she is considered different, and of course she is different from her adoptive parents, but when she meets her sisters she does not feel so different anymore. The book gives a lot of details about cultural identity and ethnicity, and trying to feel that she belongs to something is extremely important to the author.
Racism
The book explains that in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s there was a tremendous amount of racism. Kay continually comes up against people who hate her because she is bi-racial, including her classmates at school, who enable the school bullies to direct all their attention towards Kay, and as an adult she is harassed threateningly by a group of fascists; however it is not this that shocks her, but the reaction of the man standing nearby whom she asks for help; the man tells her that he and his friends actually agree with the fascists and that sh is not welcome in the community. This racism also contributes to her feelings of not having a cultural identity or an ethnicity that she feels able to wear as her own.
