Bay Area Chinese/American author Amy Tan is beloved in this part of the world. And it certainly showed in the largest crowd I've ever seen at our local branch of Copperfields Books, gathered for anything other than a Harry Potter book release or possibly one from those teen-vampire-type series.
Thanks to my lovely friend Lori for my signed first edition copy of The Valley of Amazement. I can't wait to delve into this captivating tale, inspired, as we heard, in our back row seating among hundreds of Amy's book fans, by her own family's complex and incredible story.
Copperfield's site blurb describes The Valley of Amazement as: "Spanning more than forty years and two continents. Resurrecting pivotal moments of the past: the collapse of China’s last imperial dynasty; the beginning of the Republic; the explosive growth of both lucrative foreign trade and bouts of antiforeign sentiment."
Expect to find yourself in the midst of the lost world of old Shanghai, recaptured through the inner workings of courtesan houses and the lives of the foreign “Shanghailanders” living in the International Settlement, both erased by World War II.
Exposing the profound connections between mothers and daughters, The Valley of Amazement promises to return readers to Amy's territory, expertly mapped in The Joy Luck Club.
There might have been only a handful of people in the bookstore that night, the audience was so hushed and in such admiration of Amy's slide show of old family photographs and candid recounting of her writers' process over the past eight years that it took for her to write this book.
I did pay special attention to the fact that her husband of over 40 years, by her glowing account, brought Amy three meals a day to her home office confinement in the final months of completing her manuscript!
Thank you Copperfields for continuing to bring us so many of the best American (as well as International authors of our day). Note to booksellers: I'd really like to hear of any upcoming visit from my favorite, Mr. Bill Bryson, whose latest 'One Summer - America 1927' I'm currenly in the midst of. I have several Bryson books signed by the author and would never miss one of his book tour stops in the North Bay.
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