The Nine Fold Heaven. Mingmei Yip

      

      ALSO BY MINGMEI YIP

      Skeleton Women

      Song of the Silk Road

      Petals from the Sky

      Peach Blossom Pavilion

      THE

      NINE

      FOLD

      HEAVEN

      Mingmei Yip

      KENSINGTON BOOKS

      www.kensingtonbooks.com

      All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.

      Table of Contents

      ALSO BY MINGMEI YIP Title Page Dedication ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Dedication Dedication PART ONE

      Prologue 1 - My Fate on a Piece of Paper 2 - A Plunging Toddler

       PART TWO

      3 - Home to Heartbreak 4 - Running into an Ambassador 5 - Heavenly Tune Café and Bright Moon Nightclub 6 - The Garden Party 7 - River Cruise

       PART THREE

      8 - The Execution 9 - Forbidden Love 10 - Vanished Children on the Wall 11 - Compassionate Grace 12 - Sacred Heart

       PART FOUR

      13 - The Cemetery 14 - Pink Skeleton Women and a Mission 15 - Shanghai Lily 16 - Farewell to Little Blind Girl

       PART FIVE

      17 - Goddess Behind the Secret Gate 18 - The Shen’s Circus 19 - Hospital Visit and a Plan 20 - Fortune-telling 21 - The Forgetful Soup

       PART SIX

      22 - A Telephone Call 23 - The Exchange 24 - Together Again 25 - Birthday Celebration 26 - The Magic Show 27 - I Fare Thee Well

       PART SEVEN

      28 - Sacred Heart 29 - Compassionate Grace 30 - A Baby’s Many Incarnations 31 - A Hospital Visit 32 - A Disturbing Encounter and the Other Woman 33 - The Diary and the Curio Shop

      Epilogue A READING GROUP GUIDE Discussion Questions SKELETON WOMEN PEACH BLOSSOM PAVILION PETALS FROM THE SKY SONG OF THE SILK ROAD Copyright Page

      To Geoffrey

      “Holding hands till our hair turns white”

      —From the 3,000-year-old Chinese Classic of Poetry

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      It is hard to believe that The Nine Fold Heaven is already my fifth novel published by Kensington Books. While my life has been, fortunately, much easier than those of my heroines, the road to creating a novel is a long and sometimes arduous one. This is a process that needs a lot of nurturing, encouragement, and advice.

      Though writing is a solitary journey, I have been fortunate to have many people help and cheer me along the way.

      The first one I have to thank is my husband, Geoffrey Redmond, an endocrinologist and excellent writer with six books to his credit. Geoffrey is my eager first reader and honest critic, who is also patient and accommodating to his wife’s eccentricity, long writing hours, and weeks of living on Chinese takeout.

      I would like to thank the wonderful Kensington group, which has given me warm support throughout the years: my wonderful editor, Audrey LaFehr; the always helpful Martin Biro; publicists Karen Auerbach and Vida Engstrand; as well as President Steven Zacharius and Vice President Laurie Parkin.

      I would also like to thank my agent, Susan Crawford, at Crawford Literary Agency, as well as Lewis Frumkes for inviting me to the wonderful Hunter College