First sentence:
"On a crystalline, perfectly blue morning in June, after a day of angry pewter skies and of sheeting, driving rain, we enter our story."
Description:
"A dangerous rescue attempt in Michigan has captured the attention of the entire country. A two-year-old girl has fallen down a mine shaft. Ursula Wong is from a poor family and referred to by one member of the TV audience as 'half-breed trailer trash', not worth all the expense.
But Ursula is the last of her family line, and her story explodes into a gorgeous saga of culture, history and heredity. Ursula's forebears include a second-century-BC Chinese alchemist; an orphaned consort to a Swedish queen; and her great-great-grandfather, Jake Maki, a miner who died in a cave-in aged twenty-nine.
Ursula's fate echoes those of her ancestors, many of whom so narrowly escaped not being born that any individual's life comes to seem a miracle." -- from the back cover
My thoughts:
I still think about this book from time to time, as that's how good it was. Ingrid Hill skillfully weaves together the stories of Ursula's very disparate ancestors who faced difficulties and challenges with courage, humor and sometimes sheer luck.
Date read: 6/17/2008
Book #: 36
Rating: 4*/5 = great
Genre: Fiction
ISBN-10: 0099479869
ISBN-13: 9780099479864
Publisher: Vintage
Year: 2006
# of Pages: 476
Binding: Trade Paperback
LibraryThing Page
1 comment:
I've never heard of this. It really sounds like my kind of book. Will have to add it to the tbr! Thanks.
Post a Comment