Daughters of the Bamboo Grove

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

By: Barbara Demick

Narrated by: 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 • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD • LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR NONFICTION

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.

Enlightening and Entertaining

The author brings to life the trauma of China’s misguided one-child policy and the ripple effects it had on both Chinese families and international adoptions.

Fact driven

The narrative explains so much about the recent history of foreign adoption. It drags with too much detail about lesser characters, but fact driven.

Fascinating

I didn’t know what to expect and couldn’t stop listening. It reads like fiction but is a true story, which makes it even
More fascinating. I will listen to it again in a few months.

Really? During My Lifetime?

Amazing commentary of a slice of life that is not what I thought I knew. Thank you Barbara Demick.