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)

Bitter Winds: a story of family and sacrifice

Bitter Winds is the third book in The Scavenger’s Daughters series by Kay Bratt. Ever since the night her blind twin sister, Lily, almost burned alive in a fire and they were taken from their mother, Ivy appointed herself protector and guide for her. When Lily is snatched away and locked away in a mental hospital, Ivy will do whatever it takes to get Lily home, safe and sound. What lengths will she go to get her sister home? At the same time, Benfu and Calli’s long-lost daughter, Li Jin, has reunited with her birth parents and embraced her adopted sisters with joy. She opens a shelter for displaced people and pours herself into helping others who desperately need it. But when her friend Sami is consumed by bitterness and doesn't seem to understand that she is a welcome part of the family too, Li Jin must make a difficult choice between her friend and her new family. What choice will she make?

I think Bitter Winds is my favorite book in this series. Filled with drama, suspense, hope and love, the story kept me on the edge of my seat and waiting for what would happen next. I went through all the emotions while reading it. I was angry at certain characters’ behaviors and cried with the characters cried as they suffered and grieved. I was scared with the events in the mental hospital and held my breath in anticipation of what might happen next. And I smiled through my tears at the ending. I loved seeing the growth in the characters especially Li Jin as she works through the events of her past and her new hope for her future. I like the description of holding grudges as “eating bitterness” as grudges eat away at you. I also love to read how the title works itself in the story and that’s true for all the books in this family saga. I highly recommend Bitter Winds.

Bitter Winds is available in paperback, eBook and audiobook

Other books in the Zheng Family Saga

The Palest Ink (prequel)

The Scavenger’s Daughters (book 1)

Tangled Vines (book 2)

Red Skies (book 4, review coming soon)

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