Daughters of the Bamboo Grove

From China to America, a True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins

De: Barbara Demick

Narrado por: Joy Osmanski

NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE • 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

“Remarkable . . . Barbara Demick movingly traces this history of overseas Chinese adoptions and their ripple effects on both sides of the Pacific.”—The Wall Street Journal

WINNER OF THE CHRISTOPHER J. WELLES MEMORIAL PRIZE • A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, NPR, The New Yorker, The Economist

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 . . . [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

Eye opener

I had no idea there’s even existed and now trying to convince others. I just send them to this book.

This is a great book.

This book started out slowly and I wasn’t sure I would keep listening. I hung in there and was rewarded with a captivating, well told nonfiction story. I really enjoyed it!

The inability of families to oppose Chinese government policies.

I liked the revelation of concealed cruelty so unknown outside China. It was so heart wrenching.

Adoption madness

Fascinating true story of adoption of girls from China by American families which ended in 2023. The author is an American journalist who had been based in China and decided to tell the story of one American family's experience adopting a Chinese girl. Several Chinese families' experiences losing infants to organized groups of thieves are also recounted.

The historical aspects of the one child rule

I liked the book very much. Barbara Delicious is a great journalist and humanitarian.