Peggy Barnes has written a remarkable, wise, and generous memoir about her search for her birth mother, Pauline, a young woman from the back hills of Alabama. It takes a gutsy and determined person to embark upon such a quest, armed with nothing but a name. It takes a truly gifted writer to tell the story with such warmth and wit. Her story is their story: a deeply moving portrait of two women, separated by circumstances but united through the power of words. In I Knew You By Name, Peggy has written a gorgeous love letter to the courageous woman she never had a chance to know. I only wish Pauline could have read it, too.

- Stephanie Harrison, Author of Adaptation: From Short Story to Big Screen.