"Wordjazz for Stevie" is Jonathan Chamberlain's deep and moving tribute to his late eight-year-old daughter, a candid and beautifully written soliloquy born out of the pain of loss but conveying hope, love, happiness and insight.

Stevie arrives in the world when expat Jonathan and his Chinese wife are living on a quiet island off Hong Kong. Although shocked to learn Stevie has Down syndrome, Jonathan and Bern immediately accept the additional challenges this presents, challenges that increase significantly when an operation to close a hole in Stevie's heart goes horribly wrong, starving her of oxygen and resulting in severe disability. Towards the end of Stevie's short-but-delight-giving years, little does Jonathan know her failing health is not the only major life-changing event on the horizon.

"Wordjazz for Stevie" is a remarkable testament to the human spirit, friendship and integrity. Penned with fondness and gratitude, it will appeal to anyone who has faced hardship or prejudice, love and loss, or can relate to bureaucracy and social/cultural difference whether at home or abroad. But putting the textbooks aside, it's simply a touching and enlightening story that should inspire all who read it.

And if you're wondering why I choose this title for my review, I opened the book at random and this is what I saw.

Chris Thrall is author of: 'Eating Smoke: One Man's Descent into Drug Psychosis in Hong Kong's Triad Heartland' - a best-selling memoir ( )