Susan Conley's memoir is a graceful pilgrimage in the wake of illness and cultural dislocation. Conley's journey as a young mother and her empathy towards her two little boys is a lesson in courage and humility written with humor and style. Most of the story is told in a bewildering China, one that you can smell, taste and feel big time. One can only imagine how Conley pulled it all together when discovering the big C.. Reading the chapter Clouds and Butterflies clues you in to one of the ways she possibly coped, a chapter containing her little sons drawing, like an amulet, and a sensitive and beautiful exchange hours before her surgery. Absolutely beautiful!