Hillbilly Elegy

together and purchased a used car for the
family. In the broken world I saw around
me—and for the people struggling in that
world—religion offered tangible
assistance to keep the faithful on track.
Dad’s faith attracted me even though
I learned early on that it had played a
significant role in the adoption that led
to our long separation. While I really
enjoyed the time we spent together, the
pain of that adoption remained, and we
spoke often of how and why it happened
in the first place. For the first time, I
heard his side of the story: that the
adoption had nothing to do with a desire
to avoid child support and that, far from
simply “giving me away,” as Mom and