Xinran has written one of the most powerful accounts of the lives of Chinese women. She has gained entrance to the most pained, secret chambers in the hearts of Chinese mothers -- students, successful businesswomen, midwives, peasants -- who, whether as a consequence of the single-child policy, destructive age-old traditions, or hideous economic necessity, have given up their daughters. Xinran beautifully portrays the "extra-birth guerrillas" who travel the roads and the railways, evading the system, trying to hold on to more than one baby; naive young girl students who have made life-wrecking mistakes; the "pebble mother" on the banks of the Yangtze River still looking into the depths for a male heir; and Little Snow, the orphaned baby fostered by Xinran but confiscated by the state.

Originally published in Great Britain in 2010 by Chatto & Windus.

A Book Written for Adopted Daughters -- The First Mother I Met Who Had Lost Her Daughter -- "The Mothers of Girls Are All Heartsick" -- The Midwife's Story -- The Dishwasher Who Twice Tried to Kill Herself -- Extra-birth Guerrilla Troops: A Father on the Run -- Red Mary of the Orphanage -- The Mother Who Still Waits in the USA -- A Morality Tale for Our Times -- Bonds of Love: Stones and Leaves -- Little Snow, Where Are You? -- Appendix A: More Letters from the Heart -- Appendix B: Chinese Adoption Laws -- Appendix C: Suicide Among Women -- Appendix D: The 18 Wonders of Chengdu.