Sendker, Jan-Philipp "A Well-Tempered Heart"

Sendker, Jan-Philipp "A Well-Tempered Heart" (Burma Trilogy #2) (German: Herzenstimmen) - 2012

After reading "The Art of Hearing Heartbeats" (Das Herzenhören), the first part of the Burma Trilogy, I naturally had to know how the story continues.

Julia Win, whom we already know from the first book, suddenly hears a voice inside her. She is advised to go back to Burma to find out what the voice is trying to tell her. I don't believe in such mystical experiences, but Julia's story on her return visit is very interesting. She learns the history of Burma, meets new people, finds a new love, sees her life with different eyes. And the reader learns a lot about the differences between East and West.

As always, Jan-Philipp Sendker has written a wonderful story about Asia. His language is captivating and this is a very good sequel to a wonderful book.

From the back cover:

"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 recently left her, she has suffered a miscarriage, 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."

Sendker, Jan-Philipp "The Far Side of the Night"

Sendker, Jan-Philipp "The Far Side of the Night" (German: Am anderen Ende der Nacht) (The Rising Dragon #3) - 2016

Jan-Philipp Sendker is a German journalist who has been a correspondent for China for several years. He has written several great books in the meantime. His first one, the non-fiction book "Risse in der großen Mauer" [Cracks in the Great Wall] by Jan-Philipp Sendker is just fantastic.

In the meantime, he is also a renowned fiction writer. I have read most of his books, some of them a series) but not all of them have been translated into English. Yet, I hope.

Whether you want to read "The Art of Hearing Heartbeats" (German: Das Herzenhören) or "Whispering Shadows"or any of the other books that have been translated in the meantime, they are all great.

In this novel, we meet Paul and Christine again, the American-Chinese couple living in Hongkong with their little son. Another crime story that takes them through large parts of China where we can learn about the system people over there live in. Captivating.

We meet people who live in a town and people who live in a village, far away from any larger settlement but still not too far to be caught in the grip of the party.

Brilliant story, very emotional. I can honestly say that Jan-Philipp Sendker belongs to my favourite German authors at the moment.

From the back cover:

"During a trip to China, Paul and Christine experience the nightmare of every parent: their four year old son is kidnapped. They are reunited after a few hours but the kidnappers, very powerful people in today’s China with close contacts to the police, dearly want the child back. The only safe place for the family is the US embassy in Beijing, but they are two thousand miles away, with the police searching frantically for them, and all airports, train stations and major roads under surveillance. They’ll have no chance without help from strangers, but who will be willing to risk their lives for them?

Whom can they trust?

The Far Side of the Night is a powerful, transporting novel about the struggle to maintain humanity in an impossible situation."

These are the books in the Rising Dragon (China) trilogy:
"Whispering Shadows" (German: Das Flüstern der Schatten) (The Rising Dragon #1) - 2007
"Dragon Games" aka "The Language of Solitude" (German: Drachenspiele) (The Rising Dragon #2) - 2009
"The Far Side of the Night" (German: Am anderen Ende der Nacht) (The Rising Dragon #3) - 2016

Sendker, Jan-Philipp "Whispering Shadows"

Sendker, Jan-Philipp "Whispering Shadows" (German: Das Flüstern der Schatten) - 2007

 

So far, I had only read the non-fiction book "Risse in der großen Mauer" [Cracks in the Great Wall] by Jan-Philipp Sendker and liked it very much.

Then I found this novel in a bookstore and the description spoke to me. I usually don't read detective stories, most of them are not "deep" enough for me.

But this novel is so much more than a crime story, it gives an insight into today's China of which we still know far too little. The author reports about the grief of a man who has lost his son. And he talks about the slow healing after a heavy blow.

The book is both philosophic and informative. An excellent story. The author has previously worked as a correspondent in Asia. You can tell that he has a lot of insight and background information. I have read the next part of the trilogy "Drachenspiele" (Dragon Games) and hope they will translate that one soon, as well.

From the back cover:

"The first in a suspenseful new trilogy by the internationally bestselling author of The Art of Hearing Heartbeats {German: Das Herzenhören}, this gripping story follows a retired expat journalist in contemporary China who tries to crack a murder case as he battles his own personal demons.

American expat Paul Leibovitz was once an ambitious advisor, dedicated father, and loving husband. But after living for nearly thirty years in Hong Kong, personal tragedy strikes and Paul's marriage unravels in the fallout.

Now Paul is living as a recluse on an outlying island of Hong Kong. When he makes a fleeting connection with Elizabeth, a distressed American woman on the verge of collapse, his life is thrown into turmoil. Less than twenty-four hours later, Elizabeth's son is found dead in Shenzhen, and Paul, invigorated by a newfound purpose, sets out to investigate the murder on his own.

As Paul, Elizabeth, and a detective friend descend deeper into the Shenzhen underworld;against the wishes of a woman with whom Paul has had a flirtation;they discover dark secrets hidden beneath China's booming new wealth. In a country where rich businessmen with expensive degrees can corrupt the judicial system, the potential for evil abounds.

Part love story, part crime thriller, The Whisper of the Shadow is the captivating tale of one man's desperate search for redemption within the vice of a world superpower, a place where secrets from the past threaten to upend the country's unchecked drive towards modernization."

These are the books in the Rising Dragon (China) trilogy:
"Whispering Shadows" (German: Das Flüstern der Schatten) (The Rising Dragon #1) - 2007
"Dragon Games" aka "The Language of Solitude" (German: Drachenspiele) (The Rising Dragon #2) - 2009
"The Far Side of the Night" (German: Am anderen Ende der Nacht) (The Rising Dragon #3) - 2016

Sendker, Jan-Philipp "The Art of Hearing Heartbeats"

Sendker, Jan-Philipp "The Art of Hearing Heartbeats" (German: Das Herzenhören) - 2002

Jan-Philip Sendker is a German journalist turned author who has written some fantastic books about his experiences as a correspondent in Asia. So far, I have read "Risse in der großen Mauer" [Cracks in the Great Wall], a non-fiction book about the China of today with all its problems in the modern world and "Das Flüstern der Schatten" (Whispering Shadows), a novel about a guy living in contemporary Hongkong. Both books are brilliant but haven't been translated into English, unfortunately.

Therefore, I was quite surprised that "Das Herzenhören" (The Art of Hearing Heartbeats) has been translated into English as well as its sequel "Herzenstimmen" (A Well-Tempered Heart). This is a fantastic chance for my foreign friends to get to know this wonderful author.

The plot of this story sounds easy. A Burmese man who has been living in the United States for ages, goes missing and his Burmese-American daughter follows a trail to Burma. But the background! There is so much in this story, mainly about cultural differences between East and West. I am not Asian, so I don't know how well he manages to stay close to their culture but I have read quite a few books both by Asians as well as Europeans/Americans who have lived there and I think he is doing a good job.

This book is about love, secrets, deceit, and hope. It tells us a beautiful love story. I really love the author's way of writing, his style is beautiful, his method of informing us about the East-West differences is unique. And he makes us think about the important things in life.

I just love his books.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"A poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats spans the decades between the 1950s and the present.  When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be…until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the reader’s belief in the power of love to move mountains."