Heaven Lake: A Novel

Heaven Lake: A Novel

by JohnDalton (Author)

Synopsis

When Vincent Saunders -- fresh out of college in the States -- arrives in Taiwan as a Christian volunteer and English teacher, he meets a wealthy Taiwanese businessman who wishes to marry a young woman living in China near Heaven Lake but is thwarted by political conflict. Mr. Gwa wonders: In exchange for money, will Vincent travel to China, take part in a counterfeit marriage, and bring the woman back to Taiwan for Gwa to marry legitimately? Believing that marriage is a sacrament, Vincent says no.
Soon, though, everything Vincent understands about himself and his vocation in Taiwan changes. A complicated friendship with one of the high-school girls he teaches sends him on a path toward spiritual reckoning. It also causes him to reconsider Gwa's extraordinary proposition. What follows is not just an exhilarating -- sometimes harrowing -- journey to a remote city in China, but an exploration of love, loneliness, and the nature of faith.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 464
Edition: Reprint
Publisher: Scribner
Published: 18 Apr 2005

ISBN 10: 0743246357
ISBN 13: 9780743246354

Media Reviews
Richly drawn...delicate and revealing...a winning novel.
-- Los Angeles Times
Absorbing...and compelling....[A] rich first novel about the mysteries of human yearning.
-- Chicago Tribune
Heaven Lake is a sort of Divine Comedy in reverse: a young man's trek through hell to get away from God. John Dalton has created such a compelling epic that the reader will gladly follow its hero, Vincent, on his scorching journey across China to find out how the world will punish and reward him. Our reward is this beautiful book.
-- Ann Patchett, author of Bel Canto
Impeccably written...a thorough work of operatic feeling and proportion...stunning.
-- San Francisco Chronicle
[An] evocative, beautiful exploration of modern-day China....Powerful and rewarding reading.
-- Booklist