City Of Tranquil Light

City Of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell is a story that after I finished reading, it stuck with me, and my mind kept going back to the story over and over again. It is essentially a love story. A love story between a man and wife, and a love story for the country of China. But the story is not all light and fluffy. It is about a war torn China, the illness of the people, the death of their daughter. I love the history about China in this book. I would have liked a little more back story on the characters. The story reads like a memoir, but is fiction. Caldwell is an exceptional writer and story-teller. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

About the book: Caldwell set her first novel in pre-WWII Shanghai. She returns to China in her second, inspired by the story of her missionary grandparents. Her fictionalized version begins in 1906 when Will, 21, and Katherine, a year older, join a group of Mennonite missionaries on their journey from Seattle to China - he an enraptured recruit, she a nursing student whose sister is married to the group’s charismatic leader. Several years later Will and Katherine marry, and are sent to Kuang P’ing Ch’eng, or the City of Tranquil Light, on the North China Plain, where they stay for nearly 25 years. Caldwell masterfully interweaves their remarkable sojourn - during which they run an ever-expanding church, establish an orphanage, and struggle with their faith when their cherished daughter dies of dysentery at 11 months - with China’s tumultuous history during those years marked by civil war. Caldwell perceptively explores the deepening faith shared by her grandparents while at the same time painting a vivid portrait of the country they came to love more deeply than their own. -- Deborah Donovan

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I received a complimentary review copy of this book from The B&B Media Group.