A LEAF IN THE STORM

China at war forms the background for this second novel by the author of Moment in Peking and three non-fiction titles. Though in no sense a sequel, some of the characters reappear, and by implication, there is a definite link with the spirit of the earlier book. The story centers around Poya, rich, member of a great family, unhappy in his marriage Lao Peng, Buddhist idealist, who would sacrifice all for the cause of China and humanity; and Malin, whose shady past brings disaster on her hopes for the future, but who finds her destiny in the two men who loved her. The background of a nation at war, with all that implies, gives a richer sense of China now than any reportorial account can convey, for Lin Yutang makes one feel people living and loving and hating and fearing and hoping, as life goes on. One reads for the picture of a great race for a glimpse into lives remote from our own in their traditions and conceptions and philosophy. But most of all one reads for the sharing of the author's interpretation of the meaning of today in China. Sure of a wide sale.