-
See Our Summer
Books to Watch!
The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children
by Haley Cohen Gilliland
For readers of Say Nothing and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, the epic, true story of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, grandmothers who fought to find their stolen grandchildren during Argentina's brutal dictatorship.
In the early hours of March 24th, 1976, the streets of Buenos Aires rumbled with tanks as soldiers seized the presidential palace, overthrowing Argentina's leader. To many, it seemed like just another coup in a continent troubled by them, amid political violence and Cold War tensions. But there was something darker about this new regime. Quietly supported by the United States and much of Argentina itself, which was sick of constant bombings and gunfights, the junta quickly launched the "National Reorganization Process" or El Proceso—a bland name masking their ruthless campaign to crush the political left and instill the country with "Western, Christian" values. The dictatorship, which continued until 1983, decimated a generation.
One of the military's most diabolical acts was the disappearance of hundreds of pregnant women. Patricia Roisinblit was among them, a mother and leftist revolutionary labeled "subversive" and abducted while eight months pregnant with her second child. Patricia gave birth in captivity, making one last call to her mother, Rosa, before vanishing. Her newborn son was also taken, one of hundreds given to police, military families, and dictatorship supporters, while their biological parents were secretly executed and their bodies disposed of. For Rosa and the other mothers in her same situation, the loss was unimaginable; their only solace was the hope that their grandchildren were still alive. United by this faith, a group of fierce grandmothers formed the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, dedicated to finding the stolen children and seeking justice from a nation that betrayed them.
A Flower Traveled in My Blood is Rosa and the Abuelas' extraordinary story, told by a journalist with unique access. With authority and compassion, Haley Cohen Gilliland brings this tale to life, tracing the lives of Patricia, Rosa, and her stolen grandson, Guillermo. As the Abuelas transform into detectives, they confront military officers, sift through government documents, assume aliases to see suspected grandchildren, and even pioneer a groundbreaking genetics test with an American scientist.
A compelling mystery and deeply researched account of a pivotal era in world history, A Flower Traveled in My Blood takes readers on a journey of love, resilience, and redemption, revealing new truths about memory, identity, and family.
"[Gilliland] conveys the complicated, heart-wrenching fullness of her characters' individual stories and shades their backdrop with compulsively readable history of geopolitical tension and the emerging DNA science that fueled the Abuelas' fight. Gilliland's work, exhaustively and compassionately researched, offers a crucial counterbalance to the dark legacy of Argentina's desaparecidos...A piercing, emotional tribute to the value of persistent resistance." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Enthralling...Written with the nail-biting verve of a thriller, this spotlights relentless perseverance in the face of unthinkable brutality." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Haley Cohen Gilliland has written an extraordinary book. A compelling family saga and a forensic detective story set against a sweeping narrative of a hundred years of Argentine history, A Flower Traveled in My Blood is also a harrowing and timely reminder of what happens when democracy succumbs to despotism." —Adam Higginbotham, New York Times bestselling author of Challenger and Midnight in Chernobyl
"A Flower Traveled in My Blood is a triumphant saga of ordinary people doing extraordinary things in the face of pure malevolence. Haley Cohen Gilliland's inspiring, engrossing tale reminds us that successful resistance to authoritarian oppression often comes from society's seemingly least powerful—in this case, from a network of heartsick grandmothers armed with the superpowers of patience, persistence, and bottomless reservoirs of love." —Hampton Sides, New York Times bestselling author of The Wide Wide Sea
This information about A Flower Traveled in My Blood was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Haley Cohen Gilliland is a journalist and the director of the Yale Journalism Initiative. She previously worked at The Economist for seven years, four of which were spent in Buenos Aires as the paper's Argentina correspondent. Following her time at The Economist, she has focused on narrative nonfiction—bringing history and current events to life through fact-based storytelling. She has published long-form feature articles in The New York Times, National Geographic, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Vanity Fair, among other publications. When she's not working, she is happiest when tramping through the woods with her husband, dogs, and two children. A Flower Traveled in My Blood is her first book.
Angelica
by Molly Beer
A women-centric view of revolution through the life of Angelica Schuyler Church, Alexander Hamilton's influential sister-in-law.
The Original
by Nell Stevens
In a grand English country house in 1899, an aspiring art forger must unravel whether the man claiming to be her long-lost cousin is an impostor.
The World's Greatest Detective and Her Just Okay Assistant
by Liza Tully
A great detective's young assistant yearns for glory, but first they have learn to get along in this delightful feel good mystery.
The Whyte Python World Tour
by Travis Kennedy
Rikki Thunder, drummer for '80s metal band Whyte Python, is on the verge of fame, love—and a spy mission he didn’t expect.
.png)
These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas
"[An] atmospheric tale of unexpected hope." —Lisa Wingate, New York Times bestselling author
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
