The Middle Kingdom

Grace Hoffmeier is never quite sure where to invest her energies: in her dying marriage to star scientist Walter or in the possible affairs that flare so startlingly before her like fireworks; in things or in people; in her work or in her home; in the past or in the future.

On an eye-opening trip to China that has ripped itself apart, yet again, at its very heart in Tiananmen Square, Grace finds, with guidance from unexpected quarters, that what you can choose between is not always your choice to make. The real China soon crackles into being before Grace, and its fire and light illuminate for her paths old and new, and a new life in a new kingdom.