The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats (2002) by Jan-Philipp Sendker. When her father, a successful New York lawyer, disappears without a trace, Julia decides to go in search of him in Burma, the land he came from. She has a clue -- a love letter he wrote decades earlier to a Burmese woman whom he has never mentioned to either Julia or her mother. Julia goes in search of the village where the woman lived and meets U Ba, a man who seems to know the story of Julia's father and his lover. Over the course of the book, U Ba tells Julia the story, and it slowly dawns on her that her father was the protagonist in a great love story -- one that to our ears sounds like a fable. But she listens to the end, and ultimately finds herself forgiving her father and coming to terms with his disappearance. This is a fine, unusual book that will draw you in and hold you in its spell, and ultimately leave you feeling completely satisfied. In its own small way, it's a perfect novel. Grade: A