This special, enchanting little gem of a book, A Gift of Pearl is lovely. A very beautiful, intelligent and touching novel. It is eloquently and poetically written with lots of passion, sensuously mesmerizing and full of stunning visual beauty. A passionate love story of a beautiful seventeen-year-old Chinese girl of wealth and education who falls in love with a young American officer, send to Beijing to help the Chinese government take over control after the Japanese Invasion and Occupation at the end of WW2, in1945. Theirs was a love meant to be, but the Communist upheaval forces their love down different paths. This exquisite, elegant and sensuous tale spans 25 years and crosses two continents from Beijing to America and Taiwan. Filled with soaring imagery and laced with Chinese philosophy. Very romantic, inventive, cinematic, entertaining and colorful, with rich heritage of Chinese culture and history.