Hard Sleeper

Innocent and headstrong, Jane McPherson, the daughter of an American missionary couple, enjoys an idyllic childhood in Old Peking - the "lingering city of splendor" - until her parents are brutally murdered. In 1936, with the onset of war against Japan and fighting between the Kuomintang and communist forces, Jane and her brother, Will, are sent to live with lifelong family friends in Shanghai. There, Jane is forced to contend with long-buried family secrets, unfulfilled romance, and...
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Innocent and headstrong, Jane McPherson, the daughter of an American missionary couple, enjoys an idyllic childhood in Old Peking - the "lingering city of splendor" - until her parents are brutally murdered. In 1936, with the onset of war against Japan and fighting between the Kuomintang and communist forces, Jane and her brother, Will, are sent to live with lifelong family friends in Shanghai. There, Jane is forced to contend with long-buried family secrets, unfulfilled romance, and expulsion from her beloved country. Now elderly, Jane has returned to China and reunited with the daughter she hasn't seen in more than sixty years. During a cross-country train ride to Beijing, Jane unravels the mystery of her parents' death for her daughter and an ambitious young documentary film producer who gains new perspective on her own life as she watches mother and daughter struggle to know and understand one another. An unforgettable mystery adventure spanning more than six decades of Chinese culture and history, Hard Sleeper is a story of unconquerable spirit, set against the background of the Sino-Japanese War and the emerging realities of post-Mao China.