January, 2026
Gatekeeper Press is proud to announce the release of No Finer Place: A Memoir of DNA, Deception, and Duality by Michelle Tullier, a deeply personal and intellectually rich exploration of identity, belonging, and resilience in the wake of a life-altering DNA discovery.
Hyper-competent, driven, and outwardly unflappable, Tullier appears to be the kind of woman who has life neatly managed. But when a midlife DNA test reveals a surprise biological father and a web of long-buried family secrets, the carefully ordered narrative of her life begins to unravel. Rather than slowing down to feel, she does what she has always done. She organizes, investigates, and presses forward, believing that if she keeps moving, understanding will follow.
No Finer Place braids physical, historical, and emotional journeys as Tullier travels from her snowy island home in Maine through the South Carolina Lowcountry, Atlanta, Savannah, and Louisiana’s bayous and Bible Belt. Along the way, she traces her parents’ coming of age against the backdrop of the Great Depression, World War II, racial segregation, and homophobia. Expecting answers to emerge from history, geography, or genetics, she instead confronts the uncomfortable truth that belonging cannot be found by choosing sides or filling in blanks on a family tree. It must be built from within.
With lyrical prose and sharp psychological insight, Tullier examines the universal longing to know where we come from and who we are allowed to be. Drawing on her PhD in counseling psychology and immersion in ancient wisdom and contemporary neuroscience, she offers readers both a compelling narrative and a framework for healing after identity-shattering revelations.
Michelle Tullier is an editor and ghostwriter for Forbes Books and is the author of nine nonfiction books, including The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Overcoming Procrastination. A frequent speaker and podcast guest within the global DNA surprise and misattributed parentage experience community, she is widely respected for her thoughtful, compassionate voice. A native Atlantan, she divides her time between Maine, the Bahamas, and the road.
Timely, hopeful, and deeply human, No Finer Place will resonate with readers of Dani Shapiro’s Inheritance, genealogists and DNA test-takers, mental health professionals, and anyone still wondering who they will be when they grow up.
