A MAP FOR THE MISSING

Narrator Austin Ku captures the rhythms and tone of Chinese folktales within the contemporary pace and observations of Tang's debut novel. A professor at a California university receives an urgent phone call from his mother in China. He must return home to his family's rural village to help search for his aging father, who is missing. Taking place in the fascinating time between the end of the Cultural Revolution and the birth of China as a superpower, the story weaves drama, coming-of-age elements, and historical fiction. Ku deftly balances the professor's flashbacks to his first love with his experience of meeting her in a new China he hardly recognizes. Tang's prose and Ku's sensitive delivery illustrate how everyday lives can seem epic. B.P. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2022]