Across the China Sea

This quietly affecting novel from award-winning Norwegian author Heivoll (Before I Burn) opens in 1994 with the narrator sorting through his parents' belongings—a common enough act but in this case revelatory of an unexpected story. At the end of World War II, when he was a boy, his parents moved from Oslo to Norway's rural south to open a home for mentally disabled individuals who could not care for themselves—three adults, including Mama's brother Josef, and five children rescued from utter squalor. It's an imperfect paradise; neighbors are suspicious of the disabled youth—a bus driver suggests they need leashes—and a trip to the city to sterilize the two oldest children unsettles. Still, this is a real family, sustained by warmth and caring. Then a terrible accident takes Tone, Mama leaves (at least temporarily), and as we learn some surprising truths about Tone, the narrator forges bonds with his other siblings. In the end, these ties hold, and the book culminates on a radiant note, lifted by the music the family loves.