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The Foundling cover art

The Foundling

Written by: Paul Joseph Fronczak, Alex Tresniowski
Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
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Publisher's Summary

The Foundling tells the incredible and inspiring true story of Paul Fronczak, a man who recently discovered via a DNA test that he was not who he thought he was - and set out to solve two 50-year-old mysteries at once. Along the way he upturned the genealogy industry, unearthed his family's deepest secrets, and broke open the second longest cold case in US history, all in a desperate bid to find out who he really is.

In 1964 a woman pretending to be a nurse kidnapped an infant boy named Paul Fronczak from a Chicago hospital.

Two years later police found a boy abandoned outside a variety store in New Jersey. The FBI tracked down Dora Fronczak, the kidnapped infant's mother, and she identified the abandoned boy as her son. The family spent the next 50 years believing they were whole again - but Paul was always unsure about his true identity.

Then, four years ago - spurred on by the birth of his first child, Emma Faith - Paul took a DNA test. The test revealed definitively that he was not Paul Fronczak. From that moment on, Paul has been on a tireless mission to find the man whose life he's been living - and to discover who abandoned him and why.

This is the story of Paul's heart-wrenching and tortuous journey to solve both mysteries and finally learn the truth about his identity.

The Foundling is a touching and inspiring story about a child lost and faith found, about the permanence of families and the bloodlines that define you, and about the emotional toll of both losing your identity and rediscovering who you truly are.

©2017 Paul Joseph Fronczak and Alex Tresniowski (P)2017 Simon & Schuster, Inc.

What listeners say about The Foundling

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What a shocking and incredible story!

At 10, a little boy learns he had been kidnapped as a newborn. Later, he learns it was a full 2 years before he was 'found' and returned 'home'. But was he the same child? And if not, who was he? And where was the kidnapped infant? Follow this journey of discovery, from the feeling 'other' and not really part of his family, to the twists and turns that his story takes as a result of today's access to DNA and sites like Ancestry. It makes me think of the thousands of skeletons in people's closets that are never, or rarely, revealed. Fascinating stuff, and a compelling story. I hope one day more of his story will be revealed.

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  • 2019-10-31

Bingeworthy reading

What a rollercoaster of emotions. Fascinating and at times frustrating read . Paul Fronczac should have read this himself. He has a great voice in the introduction and on the video on his web site .
The narrator was a bit too sappy .
I sense this story is not over .
I developed a renewed interest in my own ancestry while reading this book and found out some disturbing facts of my own . Submitting my DNA has changed the game.

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Interesting but a bit drawn out for me.

It was off to a good start but I got a bit lost in the details. Also, to reference a part in the book, ethnicity and religion are not the same thing.

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