I picked up my library book and it opened to a certain page.

This is The Cut Out Girl again. (It's written by a man who seems to be more perceptive than the average man these days, I would say.) On page 257, he describes a letter from his grandmother, the  adopted mother, to Lien:

"This is a kind and loving letter, filled with a true and solid wisdom. Ma understands Lien and for all the trouble that lay behind them, it is hard to see how the bonds that tied these women together could break. My grandmother could sometimes be hard and judgmental, but she was also someone with a deep sense of duty, especially toward her children. How could things go from such a letter to the one that severed contact for good?"

"The Cut Out Girl: A Story of War and Family, Lost and Found by Bart van Es" | Goodreads

https://goodreads.com/book/show/41000784.The_Cut_Out_Girl_A_Story_of_War_and_Family__Lost_and_Found