First published 2025
Rosa Roisinblit's daughter Patricia disappeared in 1976 during Argentina's military dictatorship, taken while eight months pregnant. Patricia gave birth in captivity and made one final call to her mother before vanishing forever. Her newborn son was given to a military family while Patricia was executed. Rosa joined other grandmothers in the same situation to form the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo. These women became detectives, confronting military officers and searching government records to find their stolen grandchildren. They used false identities to observe suspected grandchildren and worked with an American scientist to develop new genetic testing methods. Journalist Haley Cohen Gilliland tells their story with unique access to Rosa's family, following three generations through Argentina's darkest period. The book traces how ordinary grandmothers fought a brutal regime that had stolen their families and betrayed their nation.
Genres: biography, history, 20th-century, true-crime, investigative-journalism, activism
Vibes: emotional, harrowing, inspiring, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: collective-resistance, found-family, intergenerational-trauma
Setting: Argentina
Period: 1976, Military Dictatorship Era
528 pages · Paperback · Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
Content warnings: death, kidnapping, pregnancy-loss, violence