Cette série explore les dures réalités et l'esprit résilient d'individus traversant des périodes historiques tumultueuses. Elle retrace les parcours de personnages luttant pour survivre et construire des vies au milieu de circonstances difficiles et de bouleversements sociaux. Le récit aborde les thèmes de la recherche de l'amour, de la formation de familles dans des circonstances inattendues et de la force des liens qui surmontent les épreuves les plus profondes. Inspirées d'une histoire vraie, ces chroniques célèbrent le triomphe sur l'adversité et la puissance durable de l'esprit humain.
Coming of age during China's Cultural Revolution, Benfu survived, and he and his wife Calli attempt to build a life in the turmoil and aftermath of Maoist China. After losing their only child, they take in abandoned girls - the unwanted "weeds" - as their own, lovingly caring for them as flowers in a garden.
The pain of China's Cultural Revolution well behind them, Benfu and his treasured Calla Lily are content in their old age surrounded by their family of adopted daughters. Once abandoned, the girls are now cherished members of the Zheng family. Yet there remains an emptiness in their hearts: their only biological daughter, Dahlia, was abducted as a newborn 30 years before. When their daughter Linnea discovers an unexpected clue about what really happened to Dahlia, the elderly couple's hopes are reignited. Will their search bring their daughter back to them, and are they ready to face the secrets of the past?
The third audiobook of the Tales of the Scavenger's Daughters series, Bitter Winds follows the saga of Chinese couple Benfu and Calli, and the abandoned young women in their care. Even after a decade of pain, Ivy remains closely tethered to Lily--her blind twin sister--and haunted by her mother's admission the night their home burned, almost taking Lily's life: "I'm sorry. Take care of your sister." Years later, as Lily begins to navigate the world on her own, the police mistakenly toss the blind girl in a cell, and Ivy realizes she must find her twin at all costs...even if that means risking her own freedom. After Benfu and Calli's long-lost daughter, Li Jin, finally reunited with her birth parents, she opened a shelter for unwanted children, turning her fortunes 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 helping someone from the past or nurturing her own future.
A sheltered son from an intellectual family in Shanghai, Benfu spends 1966 anticipating a promising violinist career and an arranged marriage. On the other side of town lives Pony Boy, a member of a lower-class family--but Benfu's best friend all the same. Their futures look different but guaranteed...until they're faced with a perilous opportunity to leave a mark on history. At the announcement of China's Cultural Revolution, Chairman Mao's Red Guard members begin their assault, leaving innocent victims in their wake as they surge across the country. With political turmoil at their door, both Benfu and Pony Boy must face heart-wrenching decisions regarding family, friendship, courage, and loyalty to their country during one of the most chaotic periods in history. The prequel to the beloved Tales of the Scavenger's Daughters series, The Palest Ink depicts Benfu's coming-of-age during the tumultuous years of the Cultural Revolution.