Daughters of the Bamboo Grove

The heartrending story of twin sisters torn apart by China’s one-child policy and the rise of international adoption—from the author of the National Book Award finalist Nothing to Envy

“Excellent . . . entrancing and disturbing . . . [Demick] is one of our finest chroniclers of East Asia. . . . [Her] characters are richly drawn, and her stories, often reported over a span of years, deliver a rare emotional wallop.”—The New York Times

On a warm day in September 2000, a woman named Zanhua gave birth to twin girls in a small hut behind her brother’s home in China’s Hunan province. The twins, Fangfang and Shuangjie, were welcome additions to her family but also not her first children. Living under the shadow of China’s notorious one-child policy, Zanhua and her husband decided to leave one twin in the care of relatives, hoping each toddler on their own might stay under the radar. But, in 2002, Fangfang was violently snatched away. The family worried they would never see her again, but they didn’t imagine she could be sent as far as the United States. She might as well have been sent to another world.

Following stories she wrote as the Beijing bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, Barbara Demick embarks on a journey that encompasses the origins, shocking cruelty, and long-term impact of China’s one-child rule; the rise of international adoption and the religious currents that buoyed it; and the exceedingly rare phenomenon of twin separation. Today, Esther—formerly Fangfang—lives in Texas, and Demick brings to vivid life the Christian family that felt called to adopt her, unaware that she had been kidnapped. Through Demick’s indefatigable reporting, will the long-lost sisters finally reunite—and will they feel whole again?

A remarkable window into the volatile, constantly changing China of the last half century and the long-reaching legacy of the country’s most infamous law, Daughters of the Bamboo Grove is also the moving story of two sisters torn apart by the forces of history and brought together again by their families’ determination and one reporter’s dogged work.

“Excellent . . . entrancing and disturbing . . . [Barbara Demick] is one of our finest chroniclers of East Asia. [Her] characters are richly drawn, and her stories, often reported over a span of years, deliver a rare emotional wallop.”—The New York Times

“This book is resounding proof that nobody can understand China without reading Barbara Demick, because she unearths stories the government wants buried.”—Evan Osnos, National Book Award–winning author of Age of Ambition

“[Demick] has written with impeccable empathy for everyone involved, Chinese and western. . . . She captures the essence of rural Chinese society in a way few western observers have done.”—The Times (UK)

“A family torn apart struggles to heal itself in this immersive, painterly exposé. . . . Demick relays this nightmarish tale in elegant, empathetic prose. It’s a tour de force.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“In this appalling exposé, longtime China correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and investigative journalist Demick . . . tells [vulnerable families’] stories with amazing levels of detail, nuance, empathy, and grace.”—Booklist, starred review

“Brilliantly written with passion and forensic detail, the book reads like a fast-paced whodunit, with the crime committed against a nation, a people, and girls everywhere.”—Mei Fong, author of One Child

“Award-winning journalist Barbara Demick has created an informative, sometimes heart-wrenching, sometimes uplifting story of China’s one-child policy and transnational adoption.”—Lisa See, New York Times bestselling author of Lady Tan’s Circle of Women

“Demick, a longtime foreign correspondent, tells this story with insight and sensitivity . . . Demick’s in-depth interviews and evocative writing portray Esther, Shuangjie and their relatives both as emblematic of their different cultures and as the complex individuals they are . . . a moving story of fortitude and emotional growth.”—BookPage, starred review

“Barbara Demick gets into the heads and the hearts of the people she profiles so adeptly that one sometimes forgets it is nonfiction one is reading. . . .a cinematic and heart-rending epic tale with consequences that cross continents.”—Emily Feng, author of Let Only Red Flowers Bloom

“This powerful book documents the heart-wrenching impact of China’s Family Planning policy, particularly the forced separations that fueled international adoptions . . . this immensely empathetic, moving, and thought-provoking narrative offers readers an extraordinary window into the complex dilemmas of international adoption.”—Zhuqing Li, author of Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden

“A bittersweet but engrossing narrative of how one family was compelled by Beijing’s ‘one-child policy’ to give an ‘unauthorized’ child up for adoption to American parents.”—Orville Schell, co-author of Wealth and Power

“A story of heartbreak, shame, separation, and irreparable damage—but, most of all, love.”—Tania Branigan, author of Red Memory

“Solid reportage and a deep knowledge of China inform this welcome study of a state-imposed social experiment gone awry.”—Kirkus Reviews

Barbara Demick is the author of Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town, named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times; Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award and the winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize in the United Kingdom; and Logavina Street: Life and Death in a Sarajevo Neighborhood. Her books have been translated into more than twenty-five languages. She is a former foreign correspondent who covered Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, most recently as China bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times. She has been a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, the New York Public Library, and Princeton University.

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