The Distant Land of My Father Author:Bo Caldwell For Anna, the narrator of Bo Caldwell's richly lyrical and vivid first novel, growing up in the magical world of Shanghai in the 1930s and 1940s creates a special bond between her and her father. He is the son of missionaries, a smuggler, and a millionaire who leads a charmed but secretive life. When the family flees to Los Angeles in the face o... more »f the Japanese occupation, he chooses to remain, believing his connections and luck will keep him safe. He's wrong. He survives, only to again choose Shanghai over his family during the Second World War. Anna and her father reconnect late in his life, when she finally has a family of her own, but it is only when she discovers his extensive journals that she is able to fully understand him and the reasons for his absences. With the intensity and appeal of When We Were Orphans, also set in Shanghai at the same time, The Distant Land of My Father tells a moving and unforgettable story about a most unusual father-daughter relationship.« less
A really good book that tells about the love between a father and a daughter and the father and a city. And how that man refuses to put his wife and daughter before that city. The characters were so believsble. At times, the book brought tears to my eyes. Our book club just read it and everyone in the group gave the book a "thumbs up".
Like the other reviewers, this book kept my interest and attention to the end. I, also, read it until it was finished, in one sitting. The author writes in a way that pulls you in and makes you feel that you are seeing it all. Loved it.
This is a first novel. According to the back cover, the narrator grows up in Shanghai in the 30s and 40s and has a special bond with her father, who is a smuggler and millionaire. (His parents, however, were missionaries.) The family flees to Los Angeles in the face of the Japanese occupation, but the father remains in Shanghai, "believing his connections and luck will keep him safe. He's wrong." He does survive, but still choses Shanghai over his family during WWII. The daughter connects with him again, late in his life, but she can't really understand him until she reads his journals.
