A moving graphic memoir that poignantly recounts Marian Henley's trials and tribulations in her late 40s: adopting a baby from Russia, deciding whether to marry her younger boyfriend, and coping with her elderly father's illness. At 49, cartoonist Marian Henley hasn't committed to marrying the man with whom she has been dating for seven years. But as the Big 5-0 looms, she realizes that above all else she wants a child. Her story follows the heartbreaking ups and downs of going through the international adoption process; deciding when it's time to grow up and maybe even get married; and in the end, it's the story of a daughter's relationship with her father, and how becoming a mother finally led her to understand him. The Shiniest Jewel is a touching narrative, accompanied by Marian's winsome drawings, that beautifully weaves together her realizations about the joy, and sometimes heartbreak, of building a family.