“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 (Editor’s Choice)
“Remarkable . . . Other authors have written about the one-child policy, or the experience of adopting a Chinese daughter; Ms. Demick’s skill shines through in her synthesis of the two stories.”—The Wall Street Journal
“A particularly wrenching story . . . [Demick focuses] on the delicate and awkward process of forging a sustained relationship, across linguistic and cultural divides, with family members who were long strangers and who suffered a traumatic fracture.”—The Washington Post
“Compelling [and] gripping.”—Literary Review
“Grippingly described . . . based on extensive reporting in China and America.”—The Economist
“Demick weaves the histories of both China’s one-child policy and Chinese international adoptions into the story of a pair of separated twins, making for a thrilling narrative.”—Los Angeles Review of Books
“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
“Written with impeccable empathy. . . . [Demick] captures the essence of rural Chinese society in a way few western observers have done.”—The Times (UK)
“[Demick’s] story lays bare the devastating impact of China’s experiment in population control and . . . the social and religious currents that fueled demand for international adoption. The two elements come together as a perfect storm in the book.”—Bloomberg (UK)
“[An] extraordinary story . . . harrowing.”—The Sun (UK)
“Demick relays this nightmarish tale in elegant, empathetic prose. It’s a tour de force.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“This appalling exposé . . . 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
“Evocative . . . Demick, a longtime foreign correspondent, tells this story with insight and sensitivity . . . 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
“Immensely empathetic, moving, and thought-provoking . . . 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
“Solid reportage and a deep knowledge of China inform this welcome study of a state-imposed social experiment gone awry.”—Kirkus Reviews
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