Barbara Demik’s Daughters of the Bamboo Grove is an extraordinary account of twin girls born in China during its one-child policy era. Demik’s writing is detailed and riveting. She gives dimension to an issue that was much more complicated than it seemed on the surface and explores the consequences for China, and the world, today.
In a remote village, a family tried to hide their twin girls. Unlike those who abandoned their baby girls to orphanages and the streets, Zanhua and her husband left one of the twins in the care of relatives, hoping that separating them would lessen any attention that twins would naturally garner. Instead, Fangfang was cruelly and violently taken from their relatives, and eventually adopted. The American family that adopted her had no idea that Fanfang was taken from her family.
Demik explores the complexities of the one-child policy that go beyond the stories we heard in the media at the time. She explains the confluence of politics, culture, corruption, along with desperation, heartbreak, and the genuine desire to adopt by people all over the world. Through the experiences of two families and this set of twins, traveling to both Texas and China, Demik tells a story that is unbarred. Needless to say, it is well worth reading.
