Kay Bratt – författare

Irrepressible memories. Vacant eyes. A child being dangled from a third story window. A boy tied to a chair. Children sleeping in layers of clothing to fight off the bitter cold. An infant dying from starvation. Some things your mind will never allow you to forget.

Silent Tears is the true story of the adversity and triumphs one woman faced as she fought against the Chinese bureaucracy to help that country’s orphaned children.

In 2003, Kay Bratt’s life changed dramatically. A wife and mother of two girls in South Carolina, Bratt relocated her family to rural China to support her husband as he took on a new management position for his American employer. Seeking a way to fill her days and overcome the isolation she experienced upon arriving in a foreign country, Bratt began volunteering at the local orphanage. Within months, her simple desire to make use of her time transformed into a heroic crusade to improve the living conditions and minimize the unnecessary deaths of Chinese orphans.

Silent Tears traces the emotional hurdles and daily frustrations faced by Ms. Bratt as she tried to change the social conditions for these marginalized children. The memoir vividly illustrates how she was able to pull from reservoirs of inner strength to pursue her mission day after day, leaving the reader with the resounding message that everyone really can make a difference.

Chai and Josi share a bond that transcends ordinary friendship. While Chai has always been Josi’s protector—ever since they were toddlers, growing up together in a small Chinese village—she finds herself helpless when they are both abducted from their families and sold to faraway strangers. In their new home, with the family of the fisherman who bought them, their old lives are torn away piece by piece. But Chai knows she must stay strong if they’re to have any chance of escaping.

That same tenacious hope guides Chai’s father, Jun, who fights to find the girls and bring them home, despite seemingly insurmountable odds and a corrupt legal system. The days since the girls were taken soon stretch to weeks and months, but Chai’s spirit remains unbroken and Jun’s resolve unwavering.

An inspiring story of remarkable courage and indefatigable hope, A Thread Unbroken is about the invisible ties that hold people together, even when everything around them is falling apart.

Having survived torture and imprisonment during China’s Cultural Revolution, Benfu escaped to find love with his compassionate and beautiful Calla Lily. Together they build a fulfilling life around the most menial of jobs—Benfu’s work collecting trash. As he sorts through the discards of others, he regularly discovers abandoned children. With unwavering determination, he and Calli spend decades creating a family of hand-picked daughters that help heal the sorrow and brighten their modest home. But all is not perfect and when crisis threatens to separate their family, Benfu—or possibly his band of headstrong daughters—must find a way to overcome the biggest hardship yet.

Inspired by a true story, and set against the backdrop of a country in transition, The Scavenger’s Daughters is a sweeping present-day saga of triumph in the face of hardship, and the unbreakable bonds of family against all odds.

With the bad memories of the Cultural Revolution and a life of hard work behind them, Benfu and his treasured Calla Lily are content watching their daughters blossom—six young women who they adopted as their own. But when a clue to the whereabouts of the biological daughter they lost decades ago suddenly surfaces, they begin a frantic search to find their beloved Dahlia…

Li Jin has lived thirty years at the mercy of cruel foster parents and a bleak orphanage, often surviving on the streets. But now that she has a son, she must try to make a better life for them—even if it means withstanding the abuse of a seedy foreigner in exchange for a home. But when Erik’s treatment turns truly sadistic, she must find a way to escape once and for all…

A beautiful yet haunting story about the “lost girls” of China, Tangled Vines takes us on a journey of heartbreak and then hope as we witness a woman’s quest to change her fate and a family’s last chance to untangle the lies of the past.

The third book of the Tales of the Scavenger’s Daughters series, Bitter Winds continues the saga of Chinese couple Benfu and Calli, and the abandoned young women in their care.

Since the night her sister was almost burned alive in a fire and they were taken from their mother, Ivy has been the self-appointed guardian and guide to her blind twin, Lily. When Lily is snatched away and put behind locked doors, Ivy will do whatever it takes to get her sister home, even it means putting her own life in danger.

After Benfu and Calli’s long-lost daughter, Li Jin, is finally reunited with her birth parents, she opens a shelter for displaced people, turning her fortune from destitution and abuse to family and fulfillment. But her friend Sami remains consumed by bitterness—and Li Jin soon realizes she needs to make a difficult choice between revisiting the past or nurturing her own future.

“A deftly crafted and riveting read from beginning to end.” —Midwest Book Review

When two lost souls find love, their devotion may be the ultimate sacrifice.

During China’s most chaotic period in history, a revolution creates thousands of innocent victims. Fearful citizens turn against one another and anyone accused of disloyalty to Chairman Mao is at risk of being sentenced to death. When best friends Pony Boy and Benfu get caught in the chaos, they must make heart-wrenching decisions regarding family, friendship, and courage.

The prequel to the beloved Tales of the Scavenger’s Daughters series, The Palest Ink depicts the trials of two young men—and the women they love—during the tumultuous years of the Cultural Revolution.

In the fourth book of the Tales of the Scavenger’s Daughters series, the fates of three people who’ve never met converge in profound and unexpected ways.

Mari, the daughter of the town scavenger, grew up knowing hardship, but she never could have anticipated the struggles that now face her as an adult. Feeling alone and isolated, she dreams of a better life. On the other side of town, a frightened little girl named An Ni is forced to live on the streets, but she silently longs for the one thing she’s never known—a family. Max, a struggling American photojournalist, arrives in China with only one goal in mind: to face his demons and put an end to his own unbearable suffering.

From the bestselling author of A Thread Unbroken comes an emotional, hope-filled story that offers a fresh glimpse into the life of a remarkable family.

Revised edition: This edition of Red Skies includes editorial revisions.

In her first work of contemporary women’s fiction, bestselling author Kay Bratt draws on her own life experiences to create a raw, yet inescapably warm, novel about friendship and a wary heart’s unexpected capacity to love.

A hungry, stray dog is the last thing Cara Butter needs. Stranded in Georgia with only her backpack and a few dwindling dollars, she already has too much baggage. Like her twin sister, Hana, who has broken Cara’s heart one too many times. After a lifetime of family troubles, and bouncing from one foster home to another, Cara decides to leave it all behind and strike out alone—on foot.

Cara sets off to Florida to see the home of her literary hero, Ernest Hemingway, accompanied only by Hemi, the stray dog who proves to be the perfect travel companion. But the harrowing trip takes unexpected turns as strangers become friends who make her question everything, and Cara finds that as the journey unfolds, so does her life—in ways she could never imagine.