'Could there be a better model for writers today than Amy Tan?She tells great stories with powerful themes: love, belonging,exile, death, compassion. She moves easily between pathos,comedy and joy. She never shows off- the technique is so perfect it is invisible. She is that rare, enviable creature, a literary novelist who writes bestsellers. This is great tragic writing,looking at the worst of human experience with a compassionate and understanding eye. I doubt if any other writer alive is capable of telling such a story.'

LuLing Young is getting old andwhile she still can-she begins to write down her memories of life as a girl in 1930s China.One day,while tending to her ailing mother,LuLing's daugter Ruth uncovers this extraordinary memoir of a childhood spent in the remote mountain village known as immortal Heart.In theis ancient world,steeped in magic and superstition,lie the deep secrets of LuLing's heart and the tragic events that changed the path of her life.As Ruth's understanding grows,mother and daughter discover togethe taht what they share in their bones through history and heredity is priceless beyond measure.