A Normal Family

The Surprising Truth About My Crazy Childhood (And How I Discovered 35 New Siblings)

Author: Chrysta Bilton

Paperback

An entertaining, unconventional family memoir from the daughter of one of the most prolific early sperm donors AKA 'Donor 150'.

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Summary

An entertaining, unconventional family memoir from the daughter of one of the most prolific early sperm donors AKA 'Donor 150'.

Description

ONE OF PEOPLE MAGAZINE'S BEST SUMMER READS 2022

5* 'A jaw-dropping memoir' - THE TELEGRAPH

'One of the maddest memoirs you'll read this year... a beautiful, warm, funny book.' -The Times

'A wholly absorbing page-turner that everyone will want to read. You should probably buy two.' -Kirkus Starred Review

'A riveting debut.' -People Magazine

'By turns hilarious, wrenching, and achingly tender.' -Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author

'A remarkable and wise book, two memoirs braided together with such tendresse that readers will come to believe the ironic title in earnest' -LA TIMES

'Riveting and hilariously funny' - The Times

For most of her life, Chrysta Bilton was one member of a small, if dysfunctional, family of four. There was her sister, Kaitlyn, her hedonistic, glamorous, gay mum Debra, and Jeffrey, who Debra hand-picked, in an LA hairdressers, to be the father of her children. During Chrysta's unstable childhood, Debra struggled to keep the family afloat and Jeffrey wandered in and out of their lives.

Then, in her twenties, Chrysta discovered that her father had secretly donated his sperm over 500 times - and that she had at least 35 other siblings.

A Normal Family is a captivating coming-of-age memoir about Chrysta's reckoning with the secrets both parents had carefully kept from her. Heartfelt, warm and funny, it's a story of embracing the family we have, in all the forms we find it.

Critic Reviews

Bilton's twisty life story is fascinating, and her eye for detail and ability to plumb her painful past for meaning make this a riveting debut. PEOPLE magazine
This beautiful, warm, funny book is a testament to human resilience, forgiveness and humour. It is also a love letter to an extraordinary mother. The Times
Is there anything original left to say about surviving a dysfunctional upbringing? A Normal Family by Chrysta Bilton takes this question almost as a dare. BOOKPAGE
Vulnerable and omniscient USA TODAY
Extraordinary The Guardian
5 - A jaw-dropping memoir The Telegraph
One of the maddest memoirs you'll read this year... a beautiful, warm, funny book. The Times *

About the Author

Raised in Los Angeles by an eccentric mother and a father who struggled with mental illness, Chrysta Bilton was in her mid-20s when she found out that her family was much more complicated than she ever could have imagined. She graduated from Barnard College in New York, studied classical drawing and painting at the Florence Academy of Art and currently runs her own public relations firm. Chrysta lives in Los Angeles with her husband, the writer Nick Bilton, their two children, Emerson and Somerset, two dogs and one cat, Pixel, Pine Cone, and Piano. A Normal Family is her first book.