cover image Across the China Sky

Across the China Sky

C. Hope Flinchbaugh, . . Bethany, $12.99 (345pp) ISBN 978-0-7642-0239-1

Two story lines intertwine in Flinchbaugh's disappointing, heavy-handed second novel, a sequel of sorts to 2002's Daughter of China . The main characters are a small band of Chinese Christians. Young, beautiful Mei Lin finds meaningful work teaching at an orphanage. When she discovers a newborn thrown away in a garbage can, Mei Lin, who cannot have children, grows to love the little baby like her own. Meanwhile, her fiancé and her father, a prominent pastor, begin sending her confusing, short letters—they have been lured into the clutches of a cult that aims to persuade Christians that Christ has returned to China as a woman. As a factual afterword makes clear, the novel is based on true events. Nonetheless, Flinchbaugh does not offer a very balanced portrait of Chinese society; the Communist Party is a monolithic evil, and there are no hints that China has become more open to Western culture, society or commerce. Flinchbaugh relies heavily on dialogue, but the individual characters' voices are insufficiently distinguished from one another, and some omniscient narration would have helped set the scene. As it stands, the reader has to work hard for too little payoff. (Sept.)