A FLOWER TRAVELED IN MY BLOOD: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children

A FLOWER TRAVELED IN MY BLOOD: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children
HALEY COHEN GILLILAND
Avid Reader Press (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$14.99 ebook, available now

Time's The 100 Must-Read Books of 2025 selection

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A New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2025 selection

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: For readers of Say Nothing and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, the epic, true story of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, grandmothers who fought to find their stolen grandchildren during Argentina’s brutal dictatorship.

In the early hours of March 24th, 1976, the streets of Buenos Aires rumbled with tanks as soldiers seized the presidential palace, overthrowing Argentina’s leader. To many, it seemed like just another coup in a continent troubled by them, amid political violence and Cold War tensions. But there was something darker about this new regime. Quietly supported by the United States and much of Argentina itself, which was sick of constant bombings and gunfights, the junta quickly launched the “National Reorganization Process” or El Proceso—a bland name masking their ruthless campaign to crush the political left and instill the country with “Western, Christian” values. The dictatorship, which continued until 1983, decimated a generation.

One of the military’s most diabolical acts was the disappearance of hundreds of pregnant women. Patricia Roisinblit was among them, a mother and leftist revolutionary labeled “subversive” and abducted while eight months pregnant with her second child. Patricia gave birth in captivity, making one last call to her mother, Rosa, before vanishing. Her newborn son was also taken, one of hundreds given to police, military families, and dictatorship supporters, while their biological parents were secretly executed and their bodies disposed of. For Rosa and the other mothers in her same situation, the loss was unimaginable; their only solace was the hope that their grandchildren were still alive. United by this faith, a group of fierce grandmothers formed the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, dedicated to finding the stolen children and seeking justice from a nation that betrayed them.

A Flower Traveled in My Blood is Rosa and the Abuelas’ extraordinary story, told by a journalist with unique access. With authority and compassion, Haley Cohen Gilliland brings this tale to life, tracing the lives of Patricia, Rosa, and her stolen grandson, Guillermo. As the Abuelas transform into detectives, they confront military officers, sift through government documents, assume aliases to see suspected grandchildren, and even pioneer a groundbreaking genetics test with an American scientist.

A compelling mystery and deeply researched account of a pivotal era in world history, A Flower Traveled in My Blood takes readers on a journey of love, resilience, and redemption, revealing new truths about memory, identity, and family.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.

My Review: It took me almost three months to read this book. Yes, it's over five hundred pages; I can do that much reading in a day; the reason it's taken me so long is purely emotional.

This horror is another example of why the Global Right is really the international fascist front. There is no hiding from the fact the US government is riddled with people who supported the perpetrators of the heinous, nauseating crimes Author Cohen Gilliland details. And no, the argument that they did not know what was happening is not true...I refer you to the astonishingly and damningly complete endnotes. Not one thing in this book is unsourced. The perpetrators' voices are unheard, though not for lack of trying on her part. Had I done any of these things, I don't know I'd've been willing to talk on the record about them.

Anyone who heard about "Alligator Alcatraz" and did not instantly go into resistance mode needs to read this book. This is what happens when fascist scum grab power. If you can read this and NOT think "I've got to do something, anything, to oppose this publicly", I'm ashamed for and of you. Not reading it is cowardly.

If that sounds like I'm judging you, you're right. I am.

It's long past time to coddle yourself. I assure you, if you think you and yours are safe, they are not. No one's "guilt" matters to people like this.

I was clear about why Author Cohen Gilliland chose to refer to the Madres and the Abuelas by first names, both her stated one of not having confusingly common last names on the page and her unstated one of creating greater intimate connection with them, but it felt more confusing for me. A reporter for The Economist is not going to be so inexperienced as to not think of that; it actually works to increase my readerly investment because it hammers into my brain the Everywoman who went on the Plaza to hold up signs, photographs, and stand there utterly exposed to the unpredictable actions of the gun-wielders was each of these enraged grieving mothers and grandmothers.

Read this story, then resist actively the actions of ICEstapo.