At the Heart of the Universe

This poignant tale from Shem (The House of God) introduces Xiao Lu, a Chinese woman who lived in Communist China during the 1990s, when the "One Child" policy dictated that second-born daughters had to be given away or worse, and the American family who adopted her daughter. Inspired by his own experiences as an adoptive father, Shem explores the cross-cultural terrain when the American family miraculously finds and interacts with Lu in a remote mountainous area of China. Pep and Clio Macy bring their daughter, Katie, to China to celebrate her 10th birthday. They warily watch Katie become increasingly attached to her birth mother, adapting to Chinese ways with astonishing facility. Shem is at his best detailing Lu's difficult family history, the impossible task of giving up her second-born daughter, and the circumstances that conspired against her, forcing her to leave her husband and first-born daughter and hide away in a desolate Buddhist retreat. Unfortunately, the story leans toward melodrama in the unlikely reunion and the events that follow, but it's still a heartfelt exploration of the meaning of family and how the bonds that link people surpass cultural, religious, and economic divides. (May)