Haunting, urgent, and unflinchingly told, A Flower Traveled in My Blood is a searing account of Argentina’s “Dirty War” through the lens of those who refused to be silenced — the grandmothers who dedicated their lives to finding the children stolen by the state.
Gilliland weaves historical investigation, personal testimony, and moral reckoning into a powerful narrative about memory, justice, and resistance. The book focuses on the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, the grandmothers who took to the streets in defiance of a brutal right-wing military regime that abducted and “disappeared” thousands in the 1970s — including pregnant women. The state gave their children away to loyalists, embedding a quiet, horrifying legacy into Argentine society. This book doesn’t just tell the story of resistance; it pulls you inside the fear. The descriptions of kidnappings by masked agents in unmarked vehicles are terrifying — and disturbingly resonant for an American reader in 2025 watching similar headlines play out with ICE raids and the erosion of civil liberties.

There were moments I had to put the book down — not because it was poorly written, but because the reality it captures is almost too much to bear. Torture, forced disappearances, state-orchestrated lies — it’s a darkness that feels all the more chilling because it's real, and recent, and not isolated to Argentina.

This is not a “comfort read.” But it is essential. Gilliland gives voice to women who refused to forget, and who turned their grief into a form of resistance. I recommend — but go in knowing that this story will stay with you.

This is a thoroughly-researched and well-written nonfiction book that reads like a novel. Haley Cohen Gilliland has created an impressive work of narrative nonfiction. I knew very little about the Abeuelas when I started this book, and Gilliland brings them to life beautifully. That said, because of the subject matter, this was a harrowing read. I had to put it down a few times and take a break. It’s an important piece of history, however, and I recommend it to others readers interested in Argentina, reproductive rights, or the fallout of a fascist regime.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an early copy of this book.

A great piece of narrative nonfiction.

Although I had heard about the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo and the crimes committed by the Argentinian regime before, my knowledge of the topic was rather superficial. Thus, I learned a lot from this book.

Haley Cohen Gilliland is a talented and thoughtful writer. Considering how horrible some of the events she covers were, it would have been easy to exploit the tragedy, as is common in tabloid true crime stories. Here, however, the author treads carefully, focusing not only on the horror but also on moments of joy and hope. She not only brings the disappeared and their families to life, but also provides us with all the historical context. And she is well aware that no story is ever black and white and that sometimes one can do harm despite the best of intentions.

Thanks to the publisher, Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

This book is heartbreaking and incredible. Thank you so much to the author for writing an English-language book on the subject. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC!

Until about a year ago, I primarily was a horror reader. Then I discovered the Argentine Mariana Enriquez's works. I devoured them, but I was lacking the background knowledge on the events and culture of Argentina. So many references to disappeared people, children, babies. I couldn't understand why the characters were so terrified to go on a car trip through their own country. I started to do some research and learned about the Abuelas, about the dictatorship, the death flights... I was shocked. How could these things happen? These things were so much worse than the fictions that they inspired.

I teared up while reading this at multiple points. Mariana writing letters and poems as a child to her stolen little brother was an especially painful point for me. Knowing that these are all real people, real stories, I want to shout to the world about what happened to them and demand justice. I'm hopeful that this book will bring more attention to these atrocities and that more English speakers will learn about them.

The author wrote everything in a narrative manner. Normally, I struggle with so many names, dates, and events, but Gilliland is very talented, and she wrote everything so that it neatly flowed and connected. The amount of research that must have gone into this is astounding.

Highly recommend.

This was a very good book. It was well-written. I would highly recommend it.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

During political upheaval in Argentina, thousands of people were disappeared. Among these were hundreds of pregnant women. After giving birth, their children were given to others and the women were never heard from again. This is the story of their mothers, who protested their disappearance and demanded answers.

What happened in Argentina was utterly heartbreaking. However, I found hope and resilience in the mothers. Their acts of protest, and determination to find their missing children and grandchildren showed such courage and dedication. I also found their pursuit of science to find answers amazing. DNA testing did not exist when their children and grandchildren disappeared. Yet they pioneered the new approaches and never gave up. Overall, a must read!

I absolutely loved this book. From the first pages, I felt the weight of history pressing in, and though the beginning was a bit rough to track, the payoff was incredible. I appreciated how deeply researched and emotionally gripping the story was—I felt completely immersed in the lives of Patricia, Rosa, and the Abuelas. I found myself in awe of the strength of these women, the relentless pursuit of justice, and the heartbreak of stolen children and shattered families. I admired the way the book balanced historical depth with the raw, personal stories of survival and resilience. The investigative twists made it feel almost like a mystery, yet it was grounded in devastating reality. I felt every moment of triumph and sorrow, and I was moved by the fierce determination of the Abuelas as they confronted the unimaginable. By the end, I was deeply impacted, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the legacy of these women and the truths that were uncovered.

This book is a masterful blend of history, investigation, and humanity, and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to be challenged, inspired, and profoundly moved.

A Flower Traveled in My Blood by Haley Cohen Gilliland is an incredibly well-researched and written story about a lost generation of Argentinians. Starting in the mid-1970s, Gilliland follows Rosa's journey as her pregnant daughter is abducted, tortured, and killed by Argentina’s military. Rosa then spends years searching for her missing grandson. The book mixes in the political history of different regimes, stories of other families who faced similar tragedies, the rise of a protest movement, the development of genetic testing and forensic genetics, and the impact of trauma passed down through generations.
The amazing thing about this book is how the author effortlessly combines decades of history, personal stories, and ethical questions into something that's so readable and engaging. It's not a dry political science piece, though it does raise important questions about what justice looks like, who identity belongs to, and whether the past should be remembered or forgotten. The book looks at big events while also focusing on individual struggles and emotions, without ever getting confusing or boring.
Even though I knew a bit about the desaparecidos (those kidnapped and killed by the government) and their stolen children, I learned so much more about the systematic plan that extended beyond Argentina. I also didn't realize that scientists made major developments in tests specifically to reconnect families, which are now the basis for today's ancestry service kits.
I enjoy this sort of narrative journalism, and this is one of the best examples that I have read. Highly recommended.
Thank you to NetGalley and Avid Reader Press for the eARC.

I like my books to be messy. Not the writing obviously, but in the underlying issues brought up naturally by the story. There is something about a narrative that makes you wonder, "Well, what would I have done? What is the right answer in this situation?" An exceptional example of this is A Flower Traveled in My Blood by Haley Cohen Gilliland. I still don't know what I would have done, and I know I don't have a right answer.

Gilliland looks at Argentina from the 1970s to today. Specifically, violent and murderous government officials were kidnapping suspected anti-junta actors and making them disappear. In the middle of this violence, hundreds of babies were taken forcefully from their parents and handed to friends of the government. Their parents would never be seen again. The main characters of the story become the grandmothers who take it upon themselves to find their grandchildren and take on the government. There are many superlative things I can say about Gilliland's writing, but the most important part is how she seamlessly integrates a multitude of ideas, people, and events. In the wrong hands, this book would be 600 pages that would be impossible to follow. The author has an eye for details which allow her to quickly imprint her characters in the reader's mind without slowing down. I can not overstate how well this book flows considering the 50+ year timeline and the amount of people to keep track of.

If this all sounds like a lot, well it is, but the heartbreak doesn't end when the grandmothers start to find their grandchildren. Instead, a moral question becomes a major problem. What if these children don't want to have their world shattered by finding out their parents are actually not their parents? If these adoptive parents honestly adopted these children thinking it was all legal, then can they have these kids ripped from the only home they have ever truly known? However, if the truth isn't uncovered, do the kidnappers evade justice?

Atop all of this drama is also the question of how a country moves on from extreme generational trauma. Can society move on if trials seem never-ending? If a moratorium is placed on past crimes, can there ever be justice? Gilliland lays this all out for the reader without moralizing. It's the best way to go about it in my mind and it makes this one of the best books I have read this year.

(This book was provided as an advance reader copy by NetGalley and Avid Reader Press.)