Scott Stanfield
Record staff
Nanaimo author Diane Bestwick will speak about her eight years in China and read from her latest novel, And A Bird Sang, at an Oct. 29 event at the Courtenay Library.
The book, about the one child law, tells about the anguish of a Chinese woman who accidentally becomes pregnant with her second child. She needs to decide between an abortion — as required by Chinese law — or consider ways of keeping and raising the child.
Funds from her self-published book will be given to foster homes in China, which she plans to visit in February.
“I’ve been able to sell almost 1,000 copies in the first year. It’s directly related to me getting out there and speaking,” said Bestwick, who taught Grade 10 English in China. “I don’t want it to end. You see these little children. China was such a family-oriented society. They all feel in their hearts that they are helping the mother country become wealthy, but at what a sacrifice.”
Bestwick has also lived in Australia, where her two sons and six grandchildren live.
The reading is from 6:30-7:30 p.m.