The Bridge: heartbreaking reality with hopeful possibilities

The Bridge by Kay Bratt. In present day China, the home of an old woman faces the Lucky Bridge, the famous bridge where birth parents leave their children in the hopes that someone will find them and give them a better future. In the old days, walking over the bridge during a marriage ceremony or at the New Year was said to bring the individual good luck. Mothers hope that the bridge’s luck would be bestowed on their children. Jing is the unofficial and reluctant guardian of the bridge. When no one else steps in, Jing does. Briefly taking them in and then delivering them to a local orphanage. She always said she was done, no more children. Until one day, one little boy, Fei Fei, softens her heart and changes her life. 

Inspired by her real life experience while working in a Chinese orphanage, Kay Bratt writes a heartwarming and compassionate novella. The Bridge is a short but powerful read. She also wrote a memoir about her experience in China and in the orphanage, Silent Tears; A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage. Having read the memoir and knowing the background of this phenomenon of parents abandoning their children gives The Bridge its heartbreaking reality and yet hopeful possibilities. I loved the main characters of Jing, Fei Fei, and Jing’s daughter, Qian. I highly recommend reading The Bridge as well as Silent Tears. It will break your heart but leaving you believing in the power of the change a single person can bring. 

The Bridge is available in eBook

Silent Tears; A Journey of Hope in a Chinese Orphanage 

is available in paperback, eBook and audiobook

A Single Swallow: a heartbreaking story

A Single Swallow by Zhang Ling, translated by Shelly Bryant is a story about the devastation of war, forgiveness, redemption, and the enduring power of love. On the historic day, August 15, 1945, the Jewel Voice Broadcast aired the speech of Emperor Hirohito which announced Japan’s surrender to the Allied Forces, bringing an end to World War II. Three men made a pact. After their deaths, each year on the anniversary of the broadcast, their souls would return to Yuehu, the Chinese village where they fought and survived in a war that shook the world and changed their lives forever. Now seventy years later, the pledge is being fulfilled by Pastor Billy, an American missionary, Ian Ferguson, a brash gunner’s mate, and Liu Zhaohu, a local soldier. All that is missing is Yao Ah Yan. She was the girl each man loved in his own profound way. As they retell their personal stories of the war and the woman who touched his life, the story of Ah Yan is revealed. What was her story and how did she profoundly influence the lives of these three men? 

A Single Swallow is a beautiful story told from the memories of three dead men who talk about their wartime experiences. Experiences centered around one woman. From the opening chapter, I was pulled into the interesting premise of these men visiting after death. I eagerly turned each page as I read how each man knew this woman and how they changed each other’s lives, for good and bad. It was a book I could not put down. I happened to finish it in a few hours. But the story was so engaging that I barely noticed the time. Ms. Zhang weaves a complex tapestry of cause and consequence that can forever shape one’s life and how our inner strength determines how we respond to those situations and challenges. I also enjoyed the ending and felt it was very fitting. It was a captivating read which figures a part of the World War II story that is overshadowed by stories of the European front. A few reviews I read disliked that Ah Yan’s voice is never heard; however, I enjoyed this aspect as it gave her a mysterious air. I highly recommend A Single Swallow. 

A Single Swallow is available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook

Red Skies: an emotional end to the Tales of the Scavenger's Daughters series

Red Skies is the fourth and final book in the Tales of the Scavenger’s Daughters series by Kay Bratt. It is the story of the three people who are brought together in amazing ways and their journey together will forever change them all. Marigold “Mari” grew up knowing struggles and hardships. She struggles to support herself and her husband, Bolin, after he has injured himself and can no longer work. One day, as she returns home on a rainy day, she sees a young girl begging on the street corner. Moved to kindness, she stops to talk to the young girl, An Ni, and offers her her jacket, only to be shooed away from a young man, a gang member. Mari walks away but she never forgets the young girl. Mari soon meets Max, an American photojournalist, who claims to be in China on assignment but seems to have a deeper mission, a personal mission. An Ni finds a way to escape the gang she has been forced to beg for. Along with a young girl, Mei, they run from the gang and hide. Soon Mari and Max will cross paths with An Ni and Mei and they will discover a peace and fulfillment that can only be described as miraculous. 

Red Skies is a beautiful ending to an amazing series. I loved the character of Mari as she struggles to support her husband, who is in pain and depressed. Her determination and drive to keep going, to love and honor her husband and survive on her own.I enjoyed Max as he was a bit of a mystery, wanting to see places that weren’t on the usual tourist list. It was easy to see that Max was a man tortured by something but what?, we don’t find out until the end. It was a beautiful moment which had me in tears. The convergence of An Ni and Mei’s story with Mari and Max’s is an example of how our paths are connected by no effort of ours but by divine providence or supernatural guidance. Ms. Bratt’s descriptions of China and the Chinese culture are beautiful and detailed. I could easily imagine the sights and sounds of the city, its marketplace and its residents. Red Skies is a beautifully, emotional story to end a great series. I was sad to say goodbye to Benfu, Calli and their amazing daughters but they will forever live and thrive in my imagination.I highly recommend Red Skies. 

Red Skies is available in paperback, eBook and audiobook

Read about the Zheng family

The Palest Ink (prequel)

The Scavenger’s Daughters (book 1)

Tangled Vines (book 2)

Bitter Winds (book 3)

The Scavenger's Daughters: a story of family and bonds stronger than blood

The Scavenger’s Daughters is the first book in Kay Bratt’s Tales of the Scavenger’s Daughters series. After surviving torture and imprisonment during China’s Cultural Revolution (read all about it in the series’ prequel, The Palest Ink), Benfu finds love and a life with the compassionate and beautiful Calla Lily. Together they build a life around the most menial jobs, Benfu’s work as a scavenger or trash collector. As he sorts through the trash left behind by others, he regularly discovers abandoned children. With unwavering determination, Benfu and Calli create a family of these children. When a crisis threatens to tear their family apart, Benfu, Calli and their headstrong daughters must find a way to overcome their greatest hardship yet. 

The Scavenger’s Daughters was inspired by a true story and Ms. Bratt weaves a tale of triumph in the face of hardship and the unbreakable bonds of family against all odds. I fell in love with Benfu and Calli in The Palest Ink and looked forward to reading about the family they create together. From the very beginning, it is made clear that Benfu and Calli make it their life’s mission to “care for the castaways that fate brought into their lives.” Each daughter has her own past, strengths and struggles and Benfu and Calli find ways to help each girl focus on their strengths and overcome their struggles. It is a beautiful story and I highly recommend The Scavenger’s Daughters!

The Scavenger’s Daughters is available in paperback, eBook and audiobook

The Palest Ink: a powerful story of resistance

The Palest Ink by Kay Bratt is a prequel story to the Tales of the Scavenger's Daughters series. Based on the Chinese proverb, “The palest ink is better than the best memory,” the book opens in January 1966 in Shanghai as 16-year-old Benfu meets his intended bride for the first time. As the son of intellectuals, he had certain obligations he must follow. He dreams of attending the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and mastering the violin. All those dreams soon become pushed aside as Chairman Mao beings his Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution as purge all imperialist and capitalist notions from China. Soon everything about his life, his existence is deemed wrong and he must change, follow the Mao rules, or else. But Benfu is going down without a fight. Along with his best friend, Pony Boy and Pony Boy’s girlfriend, Zu Wren, they start a newsletter to reveal the truth behind Mao’s tactics. They are putting their very lives in danger; will it be worth it? What will be the costs for them all?

This review has been one of the hardest to write, not because the book was bad, it was an amazing. It was hard to write because there is so much going on, it took a couple days to disgust this story. I even took longer to read it than I normally would read. I devoured every word, my heart broke as good, simple people were destroyed because they would not conform. Some of the events were also scarily eerie and relevant to today’s world upheavals. There is so much I wish I could discuss about this book; but it would give a lot of the emotional impact of the events away. I will say it is an immensely powerful, emotional book. I suggest you take it in slowly as imagine Benfu, Pony Boy and the other characters living through these very real events. I highly recommend The Palest Ink. I am looking forward now to read the Tales of the Scavenger’s Daughters.

The Palest Ink

is available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook

If you were me and lived in...China: book review

Another great addition to the If you were me and lived in…series is here! Now we get a glimpse into life in China.  We get a geography lesson about the area which makes of the country such as the rivers, desert and grassland areas. China was founded by the Qin Dynasty over two thousand years ago. We learn about the capital city, Beijing, as the center of political, cultural and educational center.  We learn the popular names for boys and girls and endearments for Mom and Dad. We visit the great sites of China such as the Great Wall and the Terracotta Warriors. We also learn about the regional food. Mandarin in the north, Cantonese in the south, and Szechuan in the southwest.  As well as holidays and festivals popular in Chinese culture.

I love this series. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. This series is a great and engaging way to introduce children to the various cultures around the world. I love that this book gives an interesting look into China. I highly recommend this book and the other titles in this series for any family and classroom.