Patch Reads: 3 Novels Set in China

Fromt he librarians at the :

This week we bring to you three novels with amazing stories that take place in China. 

We hope these books set in the Far East will please our readers. Happy reading!

The Color of Tea: a Novel By Hannah Tunnicliffe, June 2012, 316 pages. 

Readers will savor this debut heartwarming story of a woman who follows her busy husband to Macau, China and has to abandon her dream of motherhood when she discovers that she is infertile.  She pours her energy into opening a French patisserie called Lillian’s where she discovers that strength can be found in the most unlikely places.  Fans of Joanne Harris and Billie Letts will find this a delectable story of love, friendship, and renewal.

The Far Side of the Sky By Daniel Kalla, June 2012, 462 pages.

Franz, an Austrian Jew and renowned surgeon, is swept up in the wave of anti-Semitic violence washing over Vienna and flees to China with his daughter. There, at a Shanghai refugee hospital, Franz meets a Chinese-American nurse, called Sunny.  After Pearl Harbor, the Japanese overrun the European enclaves within Shanghai, and Franz struggles to keep the hospital open and his family safe.  Fans of Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay and Shanghai Girls by Lisa See will find this novel rewarding.

A Hundred Flowers By Gail Tsukiyama, August 2012, 288 pages.
China, 1957.

Chairman Mao has declared a new openness in society: “Let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend.” Many intellectuals fear it is only a trick, and Kai Ying's husband, Sheng, a teacher, has promised not to jeopardize their safety or that of their young son, Tao. But one July morning, the family watches helplessly as Sheng is dragged away for writing a letter criticizing the Communist Party and sent to a labor camp for “reeducation.”  As Kai Ying struggles to hold her small family together in the face of this shattering reminder of her husband's absence, other members of the household must face their own guilty secrets and strive to find peace in a world where the old sense of order is falling.  Author Tsukiyama brings a powerfully moving story of ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances with grace and courage.

Reviews brought to you each week by librarians Jennifer Niederhausen, Dona Stein and Heather Timko, 
Adult Services Division.