The Foundling cover art

The Foundling

The True Story of a Kidnapping, a Family Secret, and My Search for the Real Me

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About this listen

 This is the inspiring and “page-turning” (Booklist) true story of a man who discovered that he had been kidnapped as a baby—and how his quest to find out who he really is upturned the genealogy industry, his own family, and set in motion the second longest cold case in US history.

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 fifty 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 that he was definitely 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.

Poignant and inspiring, The Foundling is a story about a child lost and a 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. Entertainment & Celebrities True Crime Disappearance Celebrity Fiction Mystery Abduction
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the phone conversation between Paul and his parents destroyed my mascara. I wish him all the best in his continued search for answers.

fascinating, touching story.

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The circumstances of the story are sensational in the true sense of the word. It demonstrates that facts are often stranger than fiction. Paul Joseph Fronczak's quest to discover his real identity reads like a detective story as he tries to uncover the mystery of his origins. It certainly resonated for me because I am also an adoptee and I managed to trace my biological family at the age of forty.

A compelling story of a search for identity.

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Not my cup of tea. I found it boring at times, tried very hard to get into the story but I failed. Sorry.

Disapointed.

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Amazing story but the narrator was terrible. Honestly, he should only be reading children's or fictional stories. It was really not good.

Great story

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I loved this fascinating story. Would love an update of any further developments 4 years on

Unstoppable listening

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