FROM THE PUBLISHER
"In memories that rise like wisps of ghosts, LuLing Young searches for the name of her mother, the daughter of the Famous Bonesetter from the Mouth of the Mountain. Trying to hold on to the evaporating past, she begins to write all that she can remember of her life as a girl in China. Meanwhile, her daughter Ruth, a ghostwriter for authors of self-help books, is losing the ability to speak up for herself in front of the man she lives with and his two teenage daughters. None of her professional sound bites and pat homilies works for her personal life: she knows only how to translate what others want to say." "Ruth starts suspecting that something is terribly wrong with her mother. As a child, Ruth had been constantly subjected to her mother's disturbing notions about curses and ghosts, and to her repeated threats that she would kill herself, and was even forced by her to try to communicate with ghosts. But now LuLing seems less argumentative, even happy, far from her usual disagreeable and dissatisfied self." "While tending to her ailing mother, Ruth discovers the pages LuLing wrote in Chinese, the story of her tumultuous and star-crossed life, and is transported to a backwoods village known as Immortal Heart. There she learns of secrets passed along by a mute nursemaid, Precious Auntie; of a cave where "dragon bones" are mined, some of which may prove to be the teeth of Peking Man; of the crumbling ravine known as the End of the World, where Precious Auntie's scattered bones lie, and of the curse that LuLing believes she released through betrayal. Like layers of sediment being removed, each page reveals secrets of a larger mystery: What became of Peking Man? What was the name of the Bonesetter's Daughter? And who was Precious Auntie, whose suicide changed the path of LuLing's life? Within LuLing's calligraphed pages awaits the truth about a mother's heart, what she cannot tell her daughter yet hopes she will never forget."

RELEASE NOTES:

Bookczuk is sending this off for me to nekki2976 for the mailbag headed to FutureCat for the NZ convention. Bookczuk thought that it was time for me to see what BookCrossing is all about by having some of my books travel. Blame it on her!

I hope you enjoy the book.

Arrived today.

Will be sending out in Mbag to New Zealand at the end of the week.

RELEASE NOTES:

Sending in an M-bag to FutureCat for the New Zealand Convention.

A huge sack of books arrived today - too late for the convention, unfortunately, but they'll still be greatly appreciated by the Christchurch Bookcrossers, and a few might end up travelling over to Australia for the Brisbane convention in June.

I think this one might rest for a while in my TBR pile, though...

Many thanks heather, and Bookczuk, and nekki!

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It took me a while to get round to reading this book, but when I finally did, it was worth the wait. Not only for the fascinating glimpse at life in a Chinese village before the Cultural Revolution, but also for the story itself, about different ways of finding a voice.

It didn't quite make it to the 2005 NZBC convention, so I think it might have to travel up to Wellington with me next week for the 2007 convention instead.

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At NZ BC Convention registration night.

RELEASE NOTES:

Left on temporary bookshelf (window sill) downstairs in ground floor common area.

Release #45 of the 2007 Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes release challenge.