Anna lives in a storybook world: exotic pre-World War II Shanghai, with handsome young parents, wealth, and comfort. Her father, the son of missionaries, leads a charmed and secretive life, though his greatest joy is sharing his beloved city with his only daughter. Yet when Anna and her mother flee Japanese-occupied Shanghai to return to California, he stays behind, believing his connections and a little bit of luck will keep him safe. Through Anna's memories and her father's journals we learn of his fall from charismatic millionaire to tortured prisoner, in a story of betrayal and reconciliation that spans two continents.
"A powerful, fictional memoir of longing and guilt that will resonate with curious, sensitive daughters and with independent, perhaps secretive, fathers"
—The News & Observer, Raleigh
"A marvelous story, straightforward without being prosaic, full of momentum yet complex and unpredictable."
—Los Angeles Times
"For everyone who has ever felt himself in exile from any beloved place, or a time that can never return."
—Carolyn See, The Washington Post Book World
"Remarkable . . . A moving tale of love and the possibility of forgiveness."
—Library Journal
