Kay Bratt

 Synopsis

Having survived torture and imprisonment during China’s Cultural Revolution, Benfu escaped to find love with his compassionate and beautiful Calla Lily. Together they build a fulfilling life around the most menial of jobs—Benfu’s work collecting trash. As he sorts through the discards of others, he regularly discovers abandoned children. With unwavering determination, he and Calli spend decades creating a family of hand-picked daughters that help heal the sorrow and brighten their modest home. But all is not perfect and when crisis threatens to separate their family, Benfu—or possibly his band of headstrong daughters—must find a way to overcome the biggest hardship yet.

Inspired by a true story, and set against the backdrop of a country in transition, The Scavenger’s Daughters is a sweeping present day saga of triumph in the face of hardship, and the unbreakable bonds of family against all odds.

Synopsis

With the bad memories of the Cultural Revolution and a life of hard work behind them, Benfu and his treasured Calla Lily are content watching their daughters blossom—six young women who they adopted as their own. But when a clue to the whereabouts of the biological daughter they lost decades ago suddenly surfaces, they begin a frantic search to find their beloved Dahlia…

Li Jin has lived thirty years at the mercy of cruel foster parents and a bleak orphanage, often surviving on the streets. But now that she has a son, she must try to make a better life for them—even if it means withstanding the abuse of a seedy foreigner in exchange for a home. But when Erik’s treatment turns truly sadistic, she must find a way to escape once and for all…

A beautiful yet haunting story about the “lost girls” of China, Tangled Vines takes us on a journey of heartbreak and then hope as we witness a woman’s quest to change her fate and a family’s last chance to untangle the lies of the past.

Synopsis

The third book of the Tales of the Scavenger’s Daughters series, Bitter Winds continues the saga of Chinese couple Benfu and Calli, and the abandoned young women in their care.
Since the night her sister was almost burned alive in a fire and they were taken from their mother, Ivy has been the self-appointed guardian and guide to her blind twin, Lily. When Lily is snatched away and put behind locked doors, Ivy will do whatever it takes to get her sister home, even it means putting her own life in danger.

After Benfu and Calli’s long-lost daughter, Li Jin, is finally reunited with her birth parents, she opens a shelter for displaced people, turning her fortune from destitution and abuse to family and fulfillment. But her friend Sami remains consumed by bitterness—and Li Jin soon realizes she needs to make a difficult choice between revisiting the past or nurturing her own future.

Synopsis

In the fourth book of the Tales of the Scavenger’s Daughters series, the fates of three people who’ve never met converge in profound and unexpected ways.

Mari, the daughter of the town scavenger, grew up knowing hardship, but she never could have anticipated the struggles that now face her as an adult. Feeling alone and isolated, she dreams of a better life. On the other side of town, a frightened little girl named An Ni is forced to live on the streets, but she silently longs for the one thing she’s never known—a family. Max, a struggling American photojournalist, arrives in China with only one goal in mind: to face his demons and put an end to his own unbearable suffering.

From the bestselling author of A Thread Unbroken comes an emotional, hope-filled story that offers a fresh glimpse into the life of a remarkable family.

Synopsis

In the prequel of the Tales of the Scavenger’s Daughters series, the fates of three people who’ve never met converge in profound and unexpected ways.

When two lost souls find love, their devotion may be the ultimate sacrifice. During China's most chaotic period in history, a revolution creates thousands of innocent victims. Fearful citizens turn against one another and anyone accused of disloyalty to Chairman Mao is at risk of being sentenced to death. When best friends Pony Boy and Benfu get caught in the chaos, they must make heart-wrenching decisions regarding family, friendship, and courage

The Palest Ink depicts the trials of two young men--and the women they love--during the tumultuous years of the Cultural Revolution.