A World of Love

In 1991, Conroy and her husband, Casey, the parents of a six-year-old natural daughter, Meghan, began the process of adoption from abroad to give a home to an orphan. After their hopes were dashed several times, in 1993 this San Jose, Calif., couple adopted five-year-old Nadia, who had spent her life in a Russian orphanage, and in rapid succession they also adopted four-year-old Ana from Colombia and Alesia, a two-year-old from Siberia. Despite her overly effusive writing, Conroy communicates the joys and pain inherent in international adoption. Her adoptive children had difficulty adjusting: Ana, for example, went through a period of stealing. Alesia, on the other hand, had to have several costly operations. Meghan occasionally expressed resentment at her new sisters, and the parents suffered from the strain of caring for four children. (Against her husband's wishes, Conroy adopted Alesia, who had birth defects.) Today, however, the Conroys have accommodated and are delighted with the children they have brought into their family. The author stresses that her adoption experiences are ""unique,"" and her book is not meant as a ""roadmap"" for foreign adoption. Photos not seen by PW. (May)