Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

When the Japanese Army passes through a small Chinese village, they leave death, destruction, and a 14 year old girl, brutally defiled, and clinging to life. At that time, in her culture, death would have been preferable to the shame and humiliation her own village branded her with. Her story is told to us by the three men that loved her, helped her, hurt her, left her and never forgot her. I love books that, based on history or real events, transport you to a place or time, that you previously knew very little about. They deepen your understanding of other cultures and the struggles of individuals. They make you a little bit smarter and a bit more worldly. A SINGLE SWALLOW is one of those books. This book is an opportunity to effortlessly straddle Eastern and Western philosophy and find the place where they intersect in medicine, language, culture, religion and relationships. It is beautifully written and fully engages the reader, within the first few pages A SINGLE SWALLOW has a lot more to offer than a deeper understanding of what the Chinese suffered during WWII. It is also a beautiful and moving story about good people from different circumstances, brought together, who have a profound and lasting impact on each other, often in unexpected ways. It is a story of courage and healing. It drives home how fleeting life is, and illustrates how little we can control the sudden unexpected upheavals, that change the trajectory of our lives. Not without hope, being able to control the way we respond to those upheavals, very often determines our ability to rise above our circumstances. It shows how ONE person's help can sometimes guide us out of the abyss, and our own inner strength can open the door to healing and forgiveness. It is a remarkable book. You might find yourself hesitating when you see that it has been translated from Chinese, perhaps wondering if it will flow or seem clumsy as you read. Fear not!! This is so beautifully written and lyrical, I am having a hard time believing it wasn't originally written in English. I have to assume the words are even more beautiful in the author's native Mandarin, though I have a hard time understanding how that's possible. A beautifully told, moving story, set during Japan's invasion of China