From Publishers Weekly
An overweight, complacent American woman on a 1986 visit to Beijing becomes fascinated with China and energetically embraces a new life in this affecting tale. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

ANNOTATION

Barrett's two previous novels won her comparisons to Gail Godwin and Anne Tyler. The Middle Kingdom--now available in trade paper--is the story of a dutiful wife in an unhappy marriage who accompanies her husband on a business trip to China. But once there she falls out of love with her husband and into love with the country and its culture.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Despite their deeply troubled marriage, Grace and Walter are planning a three-week trip to Beijing, where Walter, a prominent scientist, is to speak at an International Conference on the Effects of Acid Rain. Their becomes a journey of a more complex as Grace falls out of love with her husband and very much in love with Beijing and its culture. There, inspired by some new friends, Grace begins to build a new life.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

An overweight, complacent American woman on a 1986 visit to Beijing becomes fascinated with China and energetically embraces a new life in this affecting tale. (Mar.)

Cheri Fein

Andrea Barrett's third novel opens with Grace Hoffmeier, an American woman who has been living in Beijing, pedaling furiously through the city streets, her 2-year-old son strapped to her back, as the Tiananmen Square uprising whirls around her....Ms. Barrett is a solid writer, and "The Middle Kingdom" is a thoughtfully plotted book. Yet Grace is a troublesome character....Ms. Barrett never does manage to communicate just what it is about China that attracts her heroine -- or, for that matter, how the experience of living in that country changes her. -- New York Times

Post Bookworld Washington

The Middle Kingdom is engaging. Andrea Barret writes with felicity, intelligence, and humor.

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