While Laozhou Teacher's College officials argue over him in Chinese, Rudy Seaborn waits nervously in an antiquated limousine. Curious crowds stare through windows at the foreign English teacher. Home in Canada a year later, Rudy is still caged by cross-cultural misunderstanding. He arranges for Li Ming, his banished translator and lover, to come to his university without knowing whether she will be allowed to leave China. In the meantime, in growing to love a new friend, he begins to understand the terrible havoc his ignorance has caused. In this novel by Alan Cumyn, Rudy's almost wilful naivete and Li Ming's rebelliousness make the love story as rivetting as Rudy's Chinese adventures. The unrest that explodes in Tiananmen Square grips Rudy in Canada as he waits for a visa, waits for his friend's baby to be born, waits and still waits for Li Ming.

Alan Cumyn has written many highly acclaimed novels for both children and adults. His three Owen Skye books have won several major awards. The Secret Life of Owen Skye won the Mr. Christie's Award and was nominated for the Governor General's Award, the Ruth Schwartz Award and the Pacific Northwest Libraries Association Young Readers Choice Award. After Sylvia was nominated for the TD Children's Literature Award, and Dear Sylvia was shortlisted for the Canadian Library Association Children's Book of the Year Award. Alan is also a two-time winner of the Ottawa Book Award. Alan teaches in the MFA program at Vermont College of Fine Arts and is currently chair of the Writers' Union of Canada.

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