A Well-tempered Heart: A Novel (The Art of Hearing Heartbeats #2) [J0215]

2014 - French flap PB Nice clean condition. Translated from the German by Kevin Wiliarty. The sequel to the international best-selling novel The Art of Hearing Heartbeats. Almost ten years have passed since Julia Win came back from Burma, her father's native country. Though she is a successful Manhattan lawyer, her private life is at a crossroads; her boyfriend has recently left her and she is, despite her wealth, unhappy with her professional life. Julia is lost and exhausted. One day, in the middle of an important business meeting, she hears a stranger's voice in her head that causes her to leave the office without explanation. In the following days, her crisis only deepens. Not only does the female voice refuse to disappear, but it starts to ask questions Julia has been trying to avoid. Why do you live alone? To whom do you feel close? What do you want in life? Interwoven with Julia's story is that of a Burmese woman named Nu Nu who finds her world turned upside down when Burma goes to war and calls on her two young sons to be child soldiers. This spirited sequel, like The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, explores the most inspiring and passionate terrain: the human heart.

From recent-ish Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "I was not expecting to love the sequel as much, if not more than the first! Sendker's characters feel very real, grounded in horrifying realities and incredibly human truths. I can't remember the last time a series of books spoke to me quite this much, and I am almost dreading their completion."; "A beautiful sequel that was as lyrical as it's predecessor with themes that again seem so appropriate for today's challenging times."; "I liked this book a lot, as much as the first in the trilogy. Most of this book takes place in Burma as well, and the characters are living in what we consider to be poverty; but they rise above that and could teach us all a thing or two about contentment."