A Flower Traveled in My Blood
The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children
-
- $14.99
Publisher Description
Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2025 • THE WASHINGTON POST’S 5 BEST NONFICTION BOOKS OF 2025 • THE ATLANTIC’S 10 BEST BOOKS OF 2025 • THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY'S BEST BOOKS OF 2025 • TIME MAGAZINE’S BEST BOOKS OF 2025 • NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF 2025
“[An] astonishing story…Powerful…Harrowing…Absorbing and lucid…You would have to harden your heart to be unmoved by the Abuelas’ quest.” —Jennifer Szalai, The New York Times Book Review (front-cover review)
“Inspiring…A triumphant saga of ordinary people doing extraordinary things in the face of pure malevolence.” —Hampton Sides • “Enthralling…Written with the nail-biting verve of a thriller.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) • “Extraordinary...A harrowing and timely reminder of what happens when democracy succumbs to despotism.” —Adam Higginbotham • “[A] cinematically detailed, deeply researched narrative.” —The Washington Post • “Piercing, emotional...Will resonate for generations.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
A remarkable new talent in narrative nonfiction delivers the epic true story of a group of courageous grandmothers who fought to find their grandchildren who were stolen.
In the early hours of March 24, 1976, the streets of Buenos Aires rumble with tanks as soldiers seize the presidential palace and topple Argentina’s leader. The country is now under the control of a military junta, with army chief Jorge Rafael Videla at the helm. With quiet support from the United States and tacit approval from much of Argentina’s people, who are tired of constant bombings and gunfights, the junta swiftly launches 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 junta holds power until 1983 and decimates a generation.
One of the military’s most diabolical acts is kidnapping hundreds of pregnant women. After giving birth in captivity, the women are “disappeared,” and their babies secretly given to other families—many of them headed by police or military officers. For mothers of pregnant daughters and daughters-in-law, the source of their grief is twofold—the disappearances of their children, and the theft of their grandchildren. A group of fierce grandmothers forms the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, dedicated to finding the stolen infants and seeking justice from a nation that betrayed them. At a time when speaking out could mean death, the Abuelas confront military officers and launch protests to reach international diplomats and journalists. They become detectives, adopting disguises to observe suspected grandchildren, and even work alongside a renowned American scientist to pioneer groundbreaking genetic tests.
A Flower Traveled in My Blood is the rarest of nonfiction that reads like a novel and puts your heart in your throat. It is the product of years of extensive archival research and meticulous, original reporting. It marks the arrival of a blazing new talent in narrative journalism. In these pages, a regime tries to terrorize a country, but love prevails. The grandmothers’ stunning stories reveal new truths about memory, identity, and family.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
While many horrors of Argentina’s Dirty War are well known, this true history uncovers the awful truth of the countless pregnant women disappeared by the country’s military junta. A Flower Traveled in My Blood tells their story through the eyes of a group of Argentinian grandmothers who desperately searched for the stolen children of those women through any method available, from court cases to DNA tests. With her focus on the inspiring tenacity of abuelas who couldn’t rest until they knew the truth, author Haley Cohen Gilliland masterfully adds a silver lining to the heart-wrenching tragedy of this story. By weaving individual stories of broken families together, Cohen Gilliland paints an unnerving yet gripping portrait of life under military dictatorship, demonstrating just how brave these older women were in their resistance. If you’re wondering how humanity can triumph in the face of terror and injustice, A Flower Traveled in My Blood is a formidable guidebook.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Gilliland's enthralling debut recaps the decades-long battle by a group of Argentinian grandmothers, the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, to locate their grandchildren who were kidnapped by the junta in the 1970s. The "desaparecidos," or "the disappeared," were alleged "subversives"—mostly members of leftist groups—who were abducted, tortured, and killed by the military dictatorship's forces. Horrifyingly, those who were pregnant were allowed to wait to give birth before their executions so that junta members could clandestinely adopt the babies. Gilliland centers the story of one Abuela, Rosa Tarlovsky de Roisinblit, and her tireless search for her grandchild. Through Rosa, Gilliland follows the Abuelas as they employ every method at their disposal to find their grandchildren, from protesting at the risk of death to recruiting an American geneticist to develop testing to prove grandparental lineage, a scientific breakthrough that made them "pioneers of genetic genealogy." While the Abuelas succeeded in locating more than 130 grandchildren to great public fanfare, the book delves into how these discoveries led to further complications, including fierce custody battles and adult children's struggles with the revelation their parents were actually their kidnappers. Noting that several potential grandchildren resisted genetic testing, Gilliland also poses larger questions about identity ("Is it the sole property of an individual—or does their family and their society also have a right to truth?"). Written with the nail-biting verve of a thriller, this spotlights relentless perseverance in the face of unthinkable brutality.
