All'inizio del suo viaggio a Pechino per adottare un bambino cinese, Roberto G. Ferrari non pensava che i venticinque giorni trascorsi in Cina avrebbero rappresentato un'occasione unica per osservare da un punto di vista non usuale il grande Paese asiatico. Ferrari esplora alcune tra le localita piu famose della Cina e si trova ad interpretare la cultura di quel Paese anche attraverso gli occhi e le esperienze personali di suo figlio. L'autore racconta la sua esperienza nel tentativo di rielaborare le proprie emozioni e nello stesso tempo dare senso alle differenze culturali che si trova ad osservare. Sia informativo che riflessivo, questo dettagliato racconto del processo adottivo porta il lettore ad esplorare la Cina moderna, nel momento in cui la stessa si apre al mondo occidentale. Via dalla Cina e una preziosissima guida all'adozione internazionale ma nello stesso tempo offre anche una rappresentazione non usuale di alcune famose localita cinesi, dai monumenti dello Shanxi a Piazza Tienanmen. Via dalla Cina descrive un Paese affascinante ed in rapido cambiamento, visto attraverso gli occhi di un padre adottivo, per sempre legato alla Cina attraverso suo figlio.

An Affair with My Mother by Caitriona Palmer: a moving and gripping story of love, denial and a daughter's quest for the truth. Caitriona Palmer had a happy childhood in Dublin, raised by loving adoptive parents. But when she was in her late twenties, she realized that she had a strong need to know the woman who had given birth to her. She was able to locate her birth mother, Sarah, and they developed a strong attachment. But Sarah set one painful condition to this joyous new relationship: she wished to keep it - to keep Caitriona - secret from her family, from her friends, from everyone. Who was Sarah, and why did she want to preserve a decades-old secret? An Affair with My Mother tells the story of Caitriona's quest to answer these questions, and of the intense, furtive 'affair' she and her mother conducted in carefully chosen locations around Dublin. By turns heartwarming and heartbreaking, An Affair with My Mother is a searing portrait of the social and familial forces that left Sarah - and so many other unwed Irish mothers of her generation - frightened, traumatized and bereft. It is also a beautifully written account of a remarkable relationship. 'Caitriona Palmer has called out the false shame of her origins, with a kind of anguished courage that is incredibly moving. An Affair With My Mother is a forensic account of how it feels to be - in the interests of Catholic "respectability" - excluded from the facts of your own life. In its commitment to family love, to joy and truth, it is a gift.' Anne Enright, winner of the Man Booker Prize

Susan Silverman grew up with parents who were, both before and after a devastating loss, atheists. Yet, as a young adult, she shocked everyone who knew her ( But you were elected Class Flirt in high school!" ) and became a rabbi. What was not surprising, however, was that she built her own big, unwieldy family through both birth and adoption, something she had intended from childhood. With three daughters and two sons ( We produce girls and import boys" ), this unique family becomes a metaphor for the world's contradictions and complexities,a microcosm of the tragedy and joy, hope and despair, cruelty and compassion, predictability and absurdity of this world we all live in. A meditation on identity, faith, and belonging,one that's as funny as it is moving, Casting Lots will resonate with anyone who has struggled to find their place in the world and to understand the significance of that place.