Demick, Barbara – The Bell Bookshop

Daughters of the Bamboo Grove

Emma — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In 2000, a Chinese woman gave birth to twins in a bamboo grove, trying to avoid detection by the government because she already had two daughters. Two years later, an American couple travelled to Shaoyang to adopt a Chinese toddler they thought had been abandoned. Their understanding had been that China's brutal one-child policy was leading to hundreds of abandoned girls, desperate for the care of adopted parents. What they didn't know – and what award-winning journalist Barbara Demick uncovered in 2007, while working as a correspondent in Beijing – was that their daughter had been snatched from her beloved family and her identical twin. Under China's one-child policy hundreds of poor Chinese were giving up their children due to soaring fines and threats of violence. More sinister still, international demand for adoptees was sky-rocketing, and local officials were forcibly seizing children and trafficking them to orphanages, who were selling them abroad. Daughters of the Bamboo Grove tells the gripping story of separated twins, their respective fates in China and the USA, and Barbara Demick's role in reuniting them against huge odds. Painting a rich portrait of China's history and culture, it asks questions about the roots, impact and consequences of China's one-child policy, the ethics of international adoption, and, ultimately, the assumptions and narratives we hold about the quality of lives lived in the East and the West.

Daughters of the Bamboo Grove

Emma — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Double Purity tells the moving story of the reunification of two identical twins, the cultural divide between them as a result of the forced adoption of one twin by Chinese authorities, and the effects of the separation on both girls and on their families. Along the way, Barbara delves into China’s recent historical and political situation, telling the story of its brutal one-child policy, which came into effect in 1979, and the corruption and trafficking of children that emerged as a result. Many families aborted or abandoned children to comply with the law, and in 1992, when China opened its doors to overseas adoption, many were given up to orphanages. Babies were a valuable commodity, with orphanages receiving a ‘donation’ of $3,000 for each adoption. Over time a corrupt system grew up to increase the supply of babies, including many forced seizures of children.

Nothing to envy

Emma — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

WINNER OF THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION A spectacular, definitive portrait of ordinary life within one of the world’s most repressive states – North Korea. ‘A most perceptive and eye-opening account of everyday life in North Korea’ Jung Chang North Korea is Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four made reality: it is the only country in the world not connected to the internet; where Gone with the Wind is a dangerous, banned book; and where during political rallies, spies study your expression to check your sincerity. Nothing to Envy weaves together the stories of adversity and resilience of six residents of Chongin, North Korea’s third-largest city. From extensive interviews and with tenacious investigative work, Barbara Demick has recreated the concerns, culture and lifestyles of North Korean citizens in a gripping narrative, and vividly reconstructed the inner workings of this extraordinary and secretive country. Includes an updated afterword by the author. ‘Impossible to put down … helps restore humanity to some of the world’s most oppressed people’ Observer

Nothing To Envy

Emma — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0000

WINNER OF THE BBC SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2010A spectacularly revealing and harrowing portrait of ordinary lives in the world’s least ordinary country, North KoreaNorth Korea is Orwell’s 1984 made reality: it is the only country in the world not connected to the internet; Gone with the Wind is a dangerous, banned book; during political rallies, spies study your expression to check your sincerity. After the death of the country’s great leader Kim Il Sung in 1994, famine descended, and Nothing to Envy – winner of the 2010 BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction – weaves together the stories of adversity and resilience of six residents of Chongin, North Korea’s third-largest city. From extensive interviews and with tenacious investigative work, Barbara Demick has recreated the concerns, culture and lifestyles of North Korean citizens in a gripping narrative, and vividly reconstructed the inner workings of this extraordinary and secretive country.