{"title":"Backstory's books of the year 2025","description":"\u003cp data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\"\u003eThe five of us at Backstory have read hundreds and hundreds of books published this year, but we feel sure that these two rise above the crop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\"\u003eWe’re sure you’ll agree.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"9781526689283","title":"Buckeye by Patrick Ryan","description":"A Read With Jenna Book Club Pick September 2025One town. Two families. A secret that changes everything.   `Poignant, powerful' Independent`Omniscient, sweeping, almost defiantly sentimental' New York Times`It's not just a great Midwestern novel, it's a great novel, period' Financial Times`I've been yearning for a novel that connects the American generations who dealt with our two Wars - one of Omaha Beach, the other of the Ia Drang Valley. Buckeye is that book, and it soars' TOM HANKS`Funny and tender ...  Patrick Ryan has long been one of my favourite writers' ANN PATCHETT  `I love this novel with my entire heart . Wise and heartbreaking' ANN NAPOLITANOMay, 1945. As news of the Allied victory in Europe reaches the small town of Bonhomie, Ohio, a woman named Margaret Salt walks into a hardware store and asks the man behind the counter, Cal Jenkins, for a radio. What happens next will change both of their lives forever.   While the country reconstructs in the post-war boom, a secret grows in Bonhomie - and nothing can remain hidden in a small town. The consequences of that long-ago encounter will intertwine the fates of two families, rippling through the next generation and compelling them to re-examine who they thought they were and what the future might hold. Full of compassion, humour and charm, Buckeye is a dazzling portrait of the human spirit by way of one unforgettable community; the twisted roads we take to achieve forgiveness and redemption; and above all a universal longing for love and connection.\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Hardback","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55897398083957,"sku":"9781526689283","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781526689283.jpg?v=1757000168"},{"product_id":"daughters-of-the-bamboo-grove-by-barbara-demick","title":"Daughters of the Bamboo Grove by Barbara Demick","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBackstory's non-fiction book of the year 2025\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eThis is the extraordinary true story of twins separated by the Chinese state.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eOne stayed with their parents, the other grew up American after being adopted by a Texan family who were under the impression they were giving a home to an abandoned child.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWith dogged detective work and compelling storytelling, Barbara Demick reunites a family, uncovers decades of state malpractice and teases apart the contrasting trajectories of China and the West.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDaughters of The Bamboo Grove reads with the pace and intensity of a novel.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e---\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe extraordinary and riveting story of separated Chinese twins, with one twin seized by the authorities and adopted into America, by the Samuel Johnson-winning author of Nothing to Envy. In 2000, a Chinese woman gave birth to twins in a bamboo grove, trying to avoid detection by the government because she already had two daughters. Two years later, an American couple travelled to Shaoyang to adopt a Chinese toddler they thought had been abandoned.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTheir understanding had been that China's brutal one-child policy was leading to hundreds of abandoned girls, desperate for the care of adopted parents. What they didn't know - and what award-winning journalist Barbara Demick uncovered in 2007, while working as a correspondent in Beijing - was that their daughter had been snatched from her beloved family and her identical twin. Under China's one-child policy hundreds of poor Chinese were giving up their children due to soaring fines and threats of violence.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMore sinister still, international demand for adoptees was sky-rocketing, and local officials were forcibly seizing children and trafficking them to orphanages, who were selling them abroad. Daughters of the Bamboo Grove tells the gripping story of separated twins, their respective fates in China and the USA, and Barbara Demick's role in reuniting them against huge odds. Painting a rich portrait of China's history and culture, it asks questions about the roots, impact and consequences of China's one-child policy, the ethics of international adoption, and, ultimately, the assumptions and narratives we hold about the quality of lives lived in the East and the West.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56199231766901,"sku":"9781783787227","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781783787227.jpg?v=1761927019"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/backstorys-books-of-the-year-2025.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}