Melissa Fu has wrangled an epic story of four generations of a family originally from China with a deft hand and a strong attention to detail and character development. We can't help but marvel at the courage and resilience of her main character, Meilin, whose husband disappears during the Japanese invasion of China. Separated from the rest of her family, she protects her son Renshu eventually finding her way to Taiwan by trading something precious for passage. Renshu is a serious scholar who ends up in the United States marrying an American girl, and leaving Meilin behind. Wracked with guilt, he is unable to bring her to New Mexico where Renshu now known as Henry Dao gets a job at the Los Alamos Laboratory. He is afraid that something in his past will threaten the security of his family, the one he has created and the mother he has left behind. We cheer all these characters on and breathe a sigh of relief when Henry finally comes to terms with his past, and basks in the glow of being a father to a whip-smart daughter who charts her own course in America. Well written and well researched.