This one has a story behind it. A few weeks earlier, a neighbor and I were discussing books we'd read as children that we associated with Christmas. This Pearl Buck novel was her absolute favorite, but it was out of print; she'd searched for it since then and couldn't find a copy. One bookstore owner even told her it had never been published in English, but she knew that was untrue, because she'd read it in English as a child. I had never heard of the book. But I searched online, found a copy, and ordered it for her. Unfortunately, it arrived in January, too late for Xmas. I quickly read it myself and then presented it to her. When she saw it, she actually screamed with surprise and delight.

The novel is about the unwanted Eurasian children of American soldiers left in Korea after the war. Parts of it are quite bleak, but the ending is uplifting.