City of Tranquil Light

by Bo Caldwell

Will Kiehn is seemingly destined for life as a humble farmer in the Midwest when, having felt a call from God, he travels to the vast North China Plain in the early twentieth-century. There he is surprised by love and weds a strong and determined fellow missionary, Katherine. They soon find themselves witnesses to the crumbling of a more than two-thousand-year-old dynasty that plunges the country into decades of civil war. As the couple works to improve the lives of the people of Kuang P'ing Ch'eng-- City of Tranquil Light, a place they come to love--and face incredible hardship, will their faith and relationship be enough to sustain them?

Told through Will and Katherine's alternating viewpoints--and inspired by the lives of the author's maternal grandparents.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, China, Book Club, Christian Fiction, Asia, Historical

287 pages, Hardcover

First published September 28, 2010

About the author

Bo Caldwell (b. 1955) is the author of the national bestseller, The Distant Land of My Father. She became popular after this book became the book of Silicon Valley Reads 2008. Her short fiction has been published in Ploughshares, Story, Epoch, and other literary journals. A former Stegner Fellow in Creative Writing at Stanford University, she currently lives in Northern California with her husband, Ron Hansen, and her two children.

Reviews

[Dorie - Cats&Books :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful story of a missionary couple who settle in a small city in China. The novel details the story of their struggle to convert some of the people, but more so it's a story of love for the indigenous people and a desire to help them in many ways.

Katherine is a nurse and does much to help with the ills of the village as the poor have no way to get any kind of medical help. They establish a clinic and a church and become deeply involved with the people that they meet and serve.

They continue through much adversity; the loss of their only daughter, flooding, a 3 year drought, bandits and then the threat of communism and the end of the 2000 year old dynasty. In the end after 20 plus years, they are forced to move back to the US for their safety and the safety of their new friends.

Back home they continue to serve and establish a church for the Chinese people in the area of Los Angeles.

This book is very much about love and faith. I cannot even comprehend how anyone could have as strong of a faith in God as Katherine and Will do. They teach by example more than anything else.

This book was inspired by the lives of the author's maternal grandparents who were missionaries in China and the journal that her grandmother kept. It is told in two voices, one of my favorite styles of writing.

I enjoyed this book and learned a lot from it. For writing and depth of characters this is definitely a 5* read

***this is by the author who wrote the Distant Land of my Father" another 5* book***

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read "The Distant Land of My Father" in the year 2002 ---[thought I had just read one of the best books of my life].

Later when San Jose picked "The Distant Land of My Father" for BOOK of the YEAR --(I was not surprised) --I was excited because I knew I'd get a chance to meet the author.

Listening to Bo Caldwell speak that first night inspired me. Everything about this Bo Caldwell touched me. She wrote a brilliant book. She herself was beautiful. Her family was extraordinary. --A marvelous evening to go along with her marvelous book! (I was a BIG TIME fan of Bo).

Her 2nd book couldn't come fast enough for me!

In 2010 -- I attended Bo Caldwell's 'Opening' (wine & cheese) at Books In. in Mt. View: Bo was going to speak and introduce her new book "City of Tranquil Light". MY friend and I arrived 90 minutes early--to make sure to get a first row seat in that book store. (It was a PACKED house).

After listening to Bo speak that night (yes, I left with her new book), I was SAD. I wasn't ready to read her book --but I was not sure why. I was sad when she mentioned she had been sick. I was happy she said she was now well. I was sad because I was afraid I might not like her book as much as her fist one.
I was just 'emotional'.
Then a friend read her book (right away). She told me it wasn't as good as her other book.
My fears were being validated....
BUT: I was WRONG!!!

THIS book *IS* 'as' important...'as' special ....'as' magnificent as "The Distant Land of My Father".....[just smaller...and just different]...... but BOTH of her books are EXCEPTIONAL books to read!!!! (I'm only sorry--with all my heart---that I waited this long to read this book).

I want to write a little more about few 'lines/spots' in the book which stayed with me (parts I came back to and re-read a few times):

1) ..... (without quoting): In our country--we often bring food to a family when a person dies and flowers to people when they are sick. In China food, (noodles), is brought when a child is born. Chrysanthemums would be brought for her death; lotus seeds for health and ginseng for longevity; and the New Year, tangerines for good fortune, fish for abundance, dumplings for wealth.
The most precious gift was "The gift of trust".....(a theme throughout the story of this book) ---

2) I've been married for 33 years to my 'own' husband Paul....so I deeply related to the way Katherine's (in the book)love for her husband Will became more precious each year.
Quote: "I would have thought younger love was the stronger force, but my feelings for Will have put down roots whose dept I'm only beginning to sense, and while I think of our marriage as still young-- nearly twenty-four years does not seem possible--I see its still not a sapling but a sturdy old oak."

3) In Chinese...."It is I Who have been blessed by you" .....[without giving the story away....this line was so very moving....dealing with forgiveness]. I'm reminded of great value to be taken away from this story.

Wonderful book!
When is the next one coming out? I PROMISE not to wait 2 years to read it!

[Clif Hostetler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel tells the story of a couple who served as Christian missionaries in China from 1906 to 1933. It portrays their story with a sympathetic and positive slant. This is in contrast to prevailing anthropologic thinking that missionaries often served as agents of western colonial interests. The story in this book is of missionaries who honor and appreciate local culture and customs. They dress as locals, adopt Chinese names for themselves and learn the language. Furthermore, they provide much needed medical services and child orphanage during times of war and famine.

The book is based upon the lives of the author's maternal grandparents who served as missionaries to China representing the Mennonite Brethren Church, and later (unlike this book) in Taiwan for the Nazarene Church. The story is probably best appreciated by accepting it as an interesting story and not worrying too much about what parts of the narrative are fictional. I probably ruined the story for myself by initially accepting the book as historical fiction. Many parts of the book do qualify as historical fiction. But some portions of the central plot that are too contrived for me to give it that classification. In particular, the interweaving of the missionary lives with that of a bandit chief were too coincidental and physically impossible for me to believe. I know that there were numerous bandit chiefs and local war lords in China during this era, much as described in this book. But as told in this book, though it makes for interesting reading, has the ring of fiction about it.

This interview with the author notes that her grandparents had five children--one of whom was her mother. The missionaries described in this book had only one child who died at one year of age. Her grandparents lived in five different cities in China, whereas the characters in this book stayed in one place. Her grandparents worked in Taiwan after the Communists forced them to leave and lived there until 1961. The couple in this book returned to and stayed in the USA after 1933. I don't mention these things here as critisism of the author. These changes made it a better novel. I'm only demonstrating how I would have probably enjoyed the story more if I had not worried so much about which parts were historically true.

Readers who believe in the life changing power of the Christian message will love this book as a glorious example of dedication and faith in action. Those of a more secular orientation can still appreciate the story, but perhaps not be as emotionally moved by the spiritual aspects of the story. Some subtle examples of Christian theology in action that I noticed in this book included:
1. Turning the other cheek: Assistance is given to the Bandit Chief even though he was indirectly responsible for their daughter's death.
2. Give one's life for another: A person volunteers to be executed by the Kuomintang invaders in lieu of the missionaries.
3. Earthquake allows prisoners to escape: Sort of reminded me of a similar incident in the life of the Apostle Paul.
4. Food mysteriously appears when needed: A la five loaves and two fish.

The author did a good job of conveying the deeply felt emotions felt by the couple upon the death of their daughter and the sorrow of saying goodby to their friends of the past 27 years when they left China. Also, the deeply felt love between the husband and wife are very effectively communicated in the writing by the author as well as the painful feelings of loss experienced by the husband after his wife's death. Their emotional attachment to their memories of life in China is described eloquently.

Their changed perceptions of China are described in the following quotation as they are leaving their Chinese home for the final time:

"We passed our compound on the right, and the farther away we got, the more my heart seemed to tear. The road turned sharply south and I strained to see our home one last time. Then I saw the city wall, just as I had seen it hundreds of times when I returned from every possible direction, at every odd hour of the day or night. I remembered the first day we had come to Kuang P’ing Ch’eng, and how its name had led me to expect a graceful city bathed in a gentle glow. It had not appeared like that at first sight so long ago, but as I looked back for the last time, that was exactly how it looked: beautiful, and filled with grace."

This book covers the same time period as Pearl Bock's famous 1931 classic "The Good Earth." Coincidentally, my PageADay Book Lover's Calendar for 9/12/12 featured The Good Earth while I was reading this book. So I decided to include the PageADay's review here.

ENDURING CLASSIC
A bestseller and Pulitzer Prize winner, The Good Earth is a searing, unforgettable saga of a family’s struggle to succeed. Wang Lung works furiously his whole life to achieve his dream: ownership of a piece of land. Will he pull it off in the harsh conditions of rural China? And will his bickering sons understand that the land is everything? The setting is far away in space and time, but Wang Lung’s setbacks and triumphs feel close to home.
Pearl S. Buck grew up in China, the daughter of missionary parents. Read her fascinating life story in Pearl Buck in China: Journey to “The Good Earth,” by Hilary Spurling (Simon & Schuster, 2010).
THE GOOD EARTH , by Pearl S. Buck (1931; Pocket Books, 2005)
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[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

It can be hard to find novels that show Christianity in a positive light these days. I don't count the "Christian fiction" genre, as I've rarely found anything worth reading there. But mainstream fiction usually portrays Christians in a negative way, if it portrays them at all. And Christian missionaries? Don't get me started.

City of Tranquil Light is a beautiful novel that tells the story of a missionary couple in China in a very respectful, loving way. These missionaries are not crazy men and women with hero complexes (think The Poisonwood Bible), but rather ordinary people who want to serve God, and find that China is the place they are sent to do just that.

Will is a young man in 1906 when he meets Edward, who is home from the mission field and looking for workers. He asks Will to consider joining him. Will has not felt the urge to leave home, and doesn't feel particularly gifted for missions work, yet one night, Will gets up, unable to sleep, leaves his bedroom, and sits down at the kitchen table.

As I sat there, I suddenly knew I would go to China. The realization was as simple and definite as the plunk of a small stone in the deep well of my soul, and despite the fact that it would mean leaving what I loved most in the world, I felt not the sadness and dread I had expected but a sense of freedom and release. The tightness in me loosened like a cut cord, and I was joyful.

Will narrates the story of his life in China: his meeting with Katherine, Edward's sister-in-law who also joins him, their courtship and marriage while on the mission field, the trials and hardships of their life together.

Katherine tells the story too, in the form of journal entries. It's a nice device, to present two voices in different ways.

Another of my complaints about current fiction is the bleakness of it. There is so much dysfunction and ugliness in novels. This is the rare book that that has ugliness in it, but it's not overwhelmed by it. There is disease and death, attacks by bandits, war. It's sad in parts, but not bleak. It's beautiful and satisfying.

There are a couple of episodes that seem a little fantastical or contrived, but they were minor brow-wrinklers for me, in this otherwise lovely book.

This work of fiction is based on the lives of the author's grandparents. Bo Caldwell also wrote The Distant Land of My Father, another book which I loved. That book was published in 2002; City of Tranquil Light in 2010. At this rate, I have a long wait for her next book. I hope it won't be too long.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lyrical novel based partly on the author's maternal grandparents' work as missionaries in China in the early Twentieth Century. It vividly brings to life what it was like to live in a small farming town on the North China plain whose way of life was slowly moving into the modern world amidst disease, famine and war. The story is one of faith amid hardship and doubt, with the story progressing in a low key style. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[Esther · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was attracted to this book by the subject matter – China – a personal favourite.
It is in fact a beautiful story of two people settling in a remote Chinese town, describing the way of life, the hardships and the developing friendships with their neighbours while the narrative occasionally and abruptly interrupted by the political developments affecting China at the beginning of the 20th century – between the fall of the Emperor and the rise of the Communist Revolution.
The writing is straightforward and leaves the beauty of the countryside and the people to shine through. I felt a pure enjoyment of reading about and partaking in the lives of others.
The fact it was about missionaries however left me concerned that there would be too much religion for my taste. Through the book there are discussions of faith and their mission but it only becomes a major element in the narrative during the last few pages which is hardly surprising as part of an introspective conclusion.
A quiet, thought-provoking book that was a pleasure to read.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book attracted my notice because of my Chinese connection with the past. Not only did I spend my early childhood in Taiwan where my parents taught English, but my grandmother was born and raised in China by her missionary parents. My mother and father also taught English there at a later time, but I didn’t accompany them on that trip. Their home has always been open to hosting students from China, many of whom have become our friends over the years. My grandmother spoke Mandarin all her life and never forgot it, and my mother also learned the language. She can chat with waiters in Chinese restaurants.

City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell, although a novel, reads as if it were a biography and the reader is an integral part of the day-to-day experiences of Edward and Katherine Kiehn. Especially meaningful is that the story centers on these two Mennonite missionaries who went to China early in the 20th Century, as did my great-grandparents, only they traveled there even earlier in 1891 under the Southern Presbyterian Church. They initially met on the voyage over, but were posted to different cities. After my great-grandfather made an exceedingly difficult trip to visit her, my great-grandmother decided to accept his marriage proposal because she loved him, and to spare him another horrific journey which included a canal boat with an opium addict, as did one trip described in the book.

An extremely moving part of the story concerns the sickness and death of Edward and Katherine’s young daughter, almost more than they could bear and forever in their hearts and minds. My great grandparents had five children born in China, with one stillborn. Their oldest son, after finishing college and seminary in the United States, returned to China to serve as an itinerate pastor, as had his father, visiting small villages where Christ was not known. Another son completed medical school and returned to China to work with his mother, also a doctor. Highly unusual for a woman in that era. She’d been tried early on by villagers who brought a boy to her nearly dead from a worm infestation. Knowing it was a test, she laid him out on the ground where all could see, and gradually gave him something to make the worms leave his body, curing him. And won their respect.

Eventually all members of our family were forced back to the states in 1939, after Japan invaded China and war ravaged the land. Living in China makes an enormous impact on Americans, as it did on those in Ms. Caldwell’s book upon whom she based her story, and as it’s made on our family. A hospital now stands on the spot where my great grandmother practiced medicine and their stillborn child is buried. Many descendents of missionary families who’d served there at that time were invited back to a celebration of its founding in 2005.

My parents have a camphor wood chest, not as elaborate as the one described in the book, but as fragrant, that they bought while teaching school on Taiwan. They (and I) can attest to the feelings of love expressed in the book that flowed between the Chinese friends of Edward and Katherine and which the couple reciprocated with all their hearts.

[Deyanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I lifted this review. I loaned the library book forgetting to copy some marvelous quotes I planned to use to write my comments.

"I have learned to do what God places in front of me, whatever that is," Will Kiehn says as he explains to Hsiao Lao, the bandit chief, his commitment to help anybody in need, be that a sick old farmer or an injured thief. Those same words could also sum up Will's life story in City of Tranquil Light."

In 1909 Will and his wife, Katherine arrived in Kuang P'ing Ch'eng (City of Tranquil Light), in the North China Plain to establish a new Mennonite church. Little did they know then that they would stay there for nearly 25 years and would come to think of China as their home. Author Bo Caldwell, tells their story through Will, a widower now, in his eighties, and living in a retirement home in California, as he vividly remembers the trials and tribulations of becoming a pastor and of earning the trust of the inhabitants of Kuang P'ing Ch'eng. Caldwell cleverly intersperses Katherine's diary entries with Will's narration thus bringing up her in-the-moment feelings to his remembrance of the events they lived through together. And they lived through a lot: personal losses, bandits, famine, earthquakes and civil war.

Caldwell was inspired by her grandparents' missionary experiences for this book and even gave their last name to her protagonists. Her portrait of missionaries in China is one of individuals who answered God's call and strove to serve Him --despite many sacrifices and hardships-- with passion. In Kuang P'ing C'heng, Will preaches the Word of God while Katherine provides medical care in her clinic. Rather than trying to impose their beliefs, Will and Katherine work selflessly in the hopes that through their words and actions others will come to accept God. Their mission is clear (as Katherine was reminded in her early days in China): "We are here to offer the gift of faith, not remake their way of life, even when the change seems necessary and right."



I happened on this book thru reading reviews and absolutely savored it. Perhaps the fact that I have traveled to China helped because the setting was real, but it also helped that I currently have a grandson serving an LDS mission speaking Mandarin Chinese (New Zealand). This is the book that I will be buying as gifts for family and friends. Wonderful read!

[Ebookwormy1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a review I don't want to write. Though I finished "City of Tranquil Light" a couple of weeks ago, and the aura of the characters has faded, I'm not ready to close the book. It is a book that has a classic feel, and calls out to be read and re-read.

"City of Tranquil Light" is a deep, tender, story that flows on many levels. Themes of life's purpose/ calling, maturity, China, marriage, cross-cultural living/ transformation, life & death, suffering, self-sacrifice, retirement, health struggles, and a deep abiding love for the LORD, for others and one's spouse, are poured into the story which is told as an old man's reminiscence.

While the subject matter is COMPLETELY different, and their styles are not the same, the way that Caldwell crafts every scene, every dialogue, every paragraph, reminds me of the exquisite work of Olive Ann Burns' "Cold Sassy Tree."

The one dissonant note, for me, in "City of Tranquil Light" was the first few pages. I had difficulty following the narrator's train of thought. But, once I understood Will, his voice became a quiet stream that my mind was happy to be carried by to another time and another place, full of struggles that resonate today, joys that transcend time, all told with the softness of good memories, and the benefit of hindsight that illuminates a life well lived. The journal entries of Katherine provided a counter-melody that gave the story additional detail and depth. My heart is still singing. I trust yours will, too.

Cold Sassy Tree, Burns, 1984
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

For more on China, see
The Good Earth (Good Earth Trilogy #1), Buck, 1931
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

For another book of reflections from an old man's life, see
Gilead, Robinson, 2004
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Lianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my local book clubs chose this title and hosted the author after our discussion. Bo Caldwell has fictionalized her grandfather's journal of a missionary career in China from 1906 to 1940. The story is an engaging treatment of a tumultuous period in Chinese history.Central to the focus of the plot is the enduring love story between the grandparents who share the missionary experience. Katherine brings the useful and practical skills of nursing to their mission and Will brings his faith and determination. They grow to love China, its culture and its people and overcome great hardships and physical privation. The most touching is their loss of their child. The book is written with a light touch that is never melodramatic so that we truly come to respect and love the main characters, even if we are sometimes exasperated by them. The surprising character in the story is a bandit leader whose destiny becomes entangled with their lives. Ultimately, they are forced to leave China when their presence begins to endanger the people of their village and political waves make them a liability as Westerners. They return to the United States just before Pearl Harbor and find their own country curiously strange and alien after so many years of a simpler way of life. The book begins slowly but ultimately gathers momentum so that I didn't want it to end. A sympathetic treatment of missionaries who truly exemplify a loving response in the face of trauma and tragedy.

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 5 out of 5]

A novel of gentle beauty, whose reading brought me deep peace.

[Laure · Rating 5 out of 5]

A former Stegner Fellow in Creative Writing at Stanford University, Bo Caldwell demonstrates her ability to provide a fulfilling sensory experience as she recreates a slice of place and time in early twentieth-century China. The two thousand-year-old dynasty is crumbling and civil war rocks the county. Into this turmoil steps a set of unmarried mid-western Mennonite missionaries, Will and Katherine, who are each determined to give their skills and their hearts to the people of China.

They are the good kind of missionaries with the respect for their adopted country that is the foundation of true service: “Katherine, there are practices in this country that you will dislike, I assure you. But some of these we must accept as they are. We are here to offer the gift of faith, not to remake their way of life, even when the change seems necessary and right. It is a question of choosing your battles. Remember that we are guests, and uninvited ones at that.” (Will Kiehn)

Caldwell thoroughly researched the history of her grandparents’ lives as missionaries, as well as this historical period in China, and that background gives this fictional story a realism in its setting and a high level of tragedy in its plot line.

Poignantly, Caldwell describes the resultant suffering as the Communists defeat the Imperial government. Will and Katherine marry and then align wholeheartedly with their Chinese friends to endure this troubled period in an ancient and beautiful land. The opening chapters detail the couple’s initial meeting, but the majority of the book takes place as they walk out their married life together.

In my opinion, this novel satisfies the avid historical fiction reader, the romantic, those who love beautiful prose, and the reader searching for an inspirational story.

“When I was twenty-one and on my way to China, I tried to envision my life there. I saw myself preaching to huge gatherings of people, baptizing eager new converts, working with my brothers in Christ to improve their lives. I did not foresee the hardships and dangers that lay ahead: the loss of one so precious, the slow and painful deprivation of drought and famine, the continual peril of violence, the devastation of war, the threat to my own dear wife. Again and again we were saved by the people we came to help and carried through by the Lord we had come to serve. I am amazed at His faithfulness; even now our lives there fill me with awe.” (p. 9)

Check out other book reviews on my blog: http://pineneedlesandpapertrails.word...

[Sherry Elmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

When this book was chosen by my book club, I wasn't expecting much from a modern book about China. I am happy that I was wrong. This is a beautiful book, well worth the time reading it.

City of Tranquil Light is a love story. It is a love story about a husband and wife who faithfully love each other through intense trials and great joy, grievous loss and gifts of grace. It is the story of an American couples' deep love for the Chinese people, and it is the story of their Chinese friends' and neighbors' love for two foreigners. And it is the story of Christ's love for people.

This is not, however, sappy "Christian fiction." The protagonists, Will and Katherine, are real people with real faults. Their life is not a sanitized happily-ever-after story. It is a real life, in a real country where they find great beauty, loyal friendship, and some painfully cruel and shocking customs. Yet Will can still say, "Again and again we were saved by the people we came to help and carried through by the Lord we came to serve."

Late in his life, Will reflects, "Lastly I pray that throughout the day God's will, not mine, be done, whatever that may mean. When I was younger, I thought it meant traveling a road that was straight and confining and predictable, something to be done correctly, like finding my way through a maze where only one path is right. I thought following that path would always feel true and safe and virtuous and that it would give me a surefooted, foolproof sense about life. This narrow thinking was mine, not His; I no longer believe it. When I am in God's will, sometimes I do feel comfortable and at ease, but I just as often feel anxious and unsettled, for He often leads me in unfamiliar waters. I do not let these feelings guide me. Nor do I heed what the world must think of me..."

All in all, just as Will calls his life rich, I call this book rich...rich with beauty and redemption, and I highly recommend it.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the middle of this book, I thought I might give this 4.5 stars, mostly because I reserve 5 stars for books I would want to read again. Then in the last 50 pages of the book, I changed my rating to 5. This is such a beautiful story with enormously beautiful characters. It made me want to strengthen my relationship to my Savior; it made me want to increase my faith; it made me want to be more in tune to the spirit. I was in tears at the end; I think because of the timing in my personal life, not because it's an incredibly sad ending.

A quote I loved from the book: "...I was amazed at what God had done, sometimes through me, sometimes with me, frequently in spite of me. I could not exactly reconstruct how it had all come to pass--where we had found the money and the knowledge and the perseverance to do what we'd done. It didn't add up; it made no more sense than it did to have leftovers after feeding five thousand with a few loaves and fishes. But I had stopped trying to explain it. Mysterious abundance was not the exception to the rule. It was who God was, when we gave Him half a chance."

Another lovely thought: "My life is colored by unexpected moments of grace, small awarenesses of God's presence that speak to me of who He is as much as any mountaintop experience."

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book held my interest and was in many ways enchanting. I value how much I learned about rural China's culture of this past century and look forward to how it might inform my understanding of China's culture today. I thought the faith aspects were handled just right and appreciated them. At times I wondered if it would've been a better read if written with more plot structure vs. like a memoir, but I netted out that the author told her story the way it was meant to be told. My rating is a simple reflection of "I liked it."

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a rare story that has the power to say that the reading of it has significantly stirred your soul and changed your perspective. This is one of those stories; a genuine gift to read. Best book I've read in quite some time. An elegantly written story about remarkable people. Keep the tissue handy.

[Manda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding. Deeply moving. The story is inspired by the author's grandparents, and though she doesn't elaborate on how much is fictionalized, I always felt like I was reading about the real-life experiences of real-life missionaries. I value this book for its picture of a now-gone China and the pioneering missionaries who served there, but even more so for its portrayal of the wonderful Lord who guided them.

[Vickie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book after I’d avoided it for a while. Should not have done that.

[Gigi · Rating 5 out of 5]

City of Tranquil Light is the story of a missionary couple to China and spans from 1906 to 1966. The story alternates the voices of Will and Katherine. Hearing two viewpoints adds depth and dimension to the tale. Their faith and the country and people they love are strong characters in the book as well. The love the two share reaches out from the pages and enlarges the reader's heart to love more, better, bigger.

"When you leave a place you love, you leave a piece of your heart. But you take with you the hearts of your beloved." This quote is from Mo Yun to Katherine as she is departing China. This story touched mine as I have also loved a country and a people and had to leave them. I appreciate how Ms. Caldwell paints a vast and rich landscape of the questions and the mysteries of faith.

Katherine writes in her journal:

"Then I ask where my faith is. I decide I'm being selfish and that fear rather than faith is leading me, and I scold myself for my lapse; I buck up and work harder and turn my back on this yearning for calm. But it will not be silenced, and once again I am asking God: Would You give me a desire You do not plan to fulfill? I don't receive an answer but the Silence that greets me is somehow gentle, and I stop battering myself for my lack of faith and accept my desires as a mystery, to be felt rather than solved."

Reading this book and letting these characters speak to your soul will enrich your life.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

City of Tranquil Light is a quiet book - there's a lot going on, but the touch is barely there, most of the time. The tale of two Mennonite missionaries on the Great China Plain, the day-to-day sorrows and triumphs of these ordinary people are compelling. There are a few "loud" moments (the beheadings, for example) but that only makes them stand out more. The decision to tell the story through Will's remembering and Katherine's journal adds to the slightly removed tone.

One of the big complaints about historical fiction is when real famous people are interjected into the tale. Here, the story of China's evolution from the Manchu dynasty to the People's Republic is almost a distant backdrop to the daily lives. The only real clash comes when the armies meet, and when Will decides that he and Katherine will be safer (and healthier) back in America.

The sorrows in their lives (loss of a child, losing family when so far away, the famine) are balanced by the joy they have in their work and in their friends. There's no great theological thrust, just a quiet thread of faith that runs through their story (unlike, say, Gilead, which feels more religious in tone).

ARC provided by publisher.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not expect to like this book as much as I did. The author's voice is compelling and articulate. The story is told by two narrators; Will and Katherine. Their voices and outlooks are distinct and different from one another. Although they are married and serve together in China, their experiences and perceptions are very different.

The years the couple are in China are pivotal in the country's economic and political outcome. A dynasty ends, a civil war is fought, there is drought and famine, the country is run by bandits, the cities are burned and pillaged yet the Chinese spirit prevails. The people continue to rise up and meet the challenges.

The couple begin as singles, traveling to China because they feel "called" to do so. The book details their steerage passage from Seattle to China, their journey inland, their different callings, their courtship then marriage. The miracles they see and experience from the first convert to interactions with a lead bandit to the experiences during the Civil War and their return to the United States are moving and heart wrenching.

The author has given her grandparents an amazing gift by providing a voice and vehicle to teach once again of Christ and through their example. I loved this book.

[Eric Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book to transport one into China in the early 1900's and into the heat and soul of a couple committed to helping the Chinese and serving Christ. One of the best missionary biographies I've read...but it isn't a biography but fiction based on the lives of the author's maternal grandparents.

An ordinary man, Will Kiehn of a farming family hears the call of God and goes to the North China Plain in 1906. There he is meets Katherine, a fellow missionary and nurse who at first views him as boorish. Then love blossoms.

They give themselves to a town, Kuang P'ing Ch'eng, City of Tranquil Light where they work to improve the lives of the people. Although only a nurse, Katherine stretches her abilities to help and heal with amazing results. Will preaches and at first, sees one or two converts. They lose a child but gain a loyal following in the town.

They face privation, poverty, danger, and tragedy from bandits, the people and the Southern army. This story is very well told, reads easily, and communicates deep spiritual lessons. Highly recommended.

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook.

Luminous. I'm still not completely sure it's fictional, it read so beautifully as a memoir I'm prone to believe it's all true. I lived the point of view, a man at the end of his life, sharing his memories. And I was so captured by the story that many times near the end, as he was talking about leaving China (no real spoiler since he writes from America at the beginning) and also losing his wife (again, no spoiler) I was in tears in the airport, so caught up in the story and the way grief and loss resonates with all of us. I found the truthful way the main character grappled with the nature of God in the midst of pain to be truthful. I loved this book. I love Bo Caldwell.

_________

2nd reading
Aug 2025
This book is an absolute masterpiece, a work of art, that I loved just as much as I did nine years ago. This time I read it with my eyes, and wept. The characters ring true. There are not enough historical fiction books about missionaries, and this one is a treasure.

[Good Book Fairy · Rating 4 out of 5]

After waiting what seems like forever for Bo Caldwell to release another book, i've decided it was worth the wait. Reminiscent story telling as in The Distant Land of My Father, this book creates China to be it's own wonderful character.
The subject was loosely based on the author's own family and it brought me back to The Good Earth by Pearl Buck mixed with a dollop of The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.
Their commitment to their faith was believable, beautiful and inspiring. I love the parable on p.73 about the father and son. It will stay with me for a long time after finishing this book.


P. 45. According to Confucius, this realization (of the few things I know was how much I didn't know) was the beginning of wisdom. ""To know what you know and know what you don't know is the characteristics of one who knows.'"

[Carinne Gee · Rating 5 out of 5]

4/15/21
I’ve finished this for the 4th time. Still love it. Still cry through half of it...but not necessarily in a tragic way...more because it just touches me so much each time. So many good quotes. So many lessons. So much joy and hope. Love.this.book

4/2015
OH MY! I'm speechless. It was incredible. Beautifully written, filled with faith and hope. A sweet, selfless, love story. Nothing else I can say will do it justice. Read it.

Update: 10/2017
I just finished this for a 2nd time. This book has stayed in my mind since I first read it 2 1/2 years ago. I've been wanting to read it again since I finished it. However, I was worried that I wouldn't like it as much the 2nd time around. I've been worried that it wouldn't live up the hype in my mind. I needn't have worried. I loved it just as much. I adore this book.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a 'quiet' historical fiction book set in China right before the communist takeover. Two Mennonite missionaries served in a little village. He preached; she was more like the village doctor. They were well suited together and each had their own niche in the area they served, and both were given their own POV in this book.

I've lived in a foreign country, as have my 3 adult children. We all had some kind of 'culture shock'. But the characters in this book didn't seem to address that. It was kind of light on emotion,even when tragic things occurred or even happy things. I would have liked to have been more tapped in to the pulse of the characters. But I still liked the story and its overall feel. I also liked the message.

[Lori Hershberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chung-Kuo," he said. "It means Middle Kingdom, because of the people's ancient belief that their country was at the center of a vast square earth, surrounded by the Four Seas, beyond which lay islands inhabited by barbarians. That's us." Edward turned and faced the front of the ship, and the expanse of ocean spread before us, so that America was behind us. "The strange part," he said softly, "is that after you've been there for a while, it truly does feel like the center of the world. It becomes a place you never want to leave.”

“He nodded, and he said kindly, "My friend, you are sick from despair. This is how the heart speaks to us, through our illnesses.”

“I also missed home-my family, our farm, speaking German, sleeping in a bed, milk, bread, cheese, forks, clocks and the longer I was gone the more intense my yearnings became. When I looked up at the night sky, it seemed impossible that my parents and siblings saw the same stars I did; I felt too far away to share the same heavens. Each evening when I went to bed I heard music from the flute played by someone in town, mournful, haunting melodies that were punctuated by the sharp clack of the wooden blocks the night watchman struck as he walked around the city wall….On the seventh day I was sick, Mu Tseng Lee sent word to Edward, who came to Ta Ts'ai Chou two days later. When he arrived he had only to look at me before murmuring the German word that had been in my mind for many days: "Heimweh," he said. Homesick.

“When I have railed against You and worn myself out, I ask You to receive me again, for I have nowhere else to go. You are my God, my only God, and for now that must be enough. I dont understand You, but I am here, as are You. That is my prayer for now.”

“I remembered the first day we had come to Kuang P'ing Ch'eng, and how its name had led me to expect a graceful city bathed in a gentle glow. It had not appeared like that at first sight so long ago, but as I looked back for the last time, that was exactly how it looked: beautiful, and filled with grace.”

“They have a great friend in Will, for I know he feels the same at times. I see a sadness and a sense of loss in him, despite his efforts to hide them. I know if it were not for me he would return to China, and I ache for him. He borrows the same book from the library over and over again and pores over it, rereading the author's descriptions of life in China at the beginning of this cen-tury. I see the wistfulness and longing on his face as he reads then pauses to gaze out the window at our tidy American garden. Sometimes at the church when he is speaking in Mandarin he becomes more youthful before my eyes. I see as never before that he would do anything for me. He already has; he's left China.”

[Chad D · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hoped that this book would be a different thing, but it is this good thing, which is pretty much the message of the book anyhow.

It doesn't feel like a novel, frankly; it reads much more like a missionary biography. The book is about the characters, who live through a lot of drama, but each piece of the drama is sort of separate from the others; it doesn't readily coalesce into thematic arcs or narrative momentum. It reads less like art and more like real life, all the way to the end being some retrospective synthesis. These missionaries lead lives of tremendous activity, and so maybe their inner lives are extremely well-intentioned but not particularly sophisticated.

The missionaries are simple, good-hearted people whose lives bear the stamp of a living Spirit of God within them. Reading this book is like knowing those kinds of people. So that's really good. The book doesn't impress as a triumph of a novelist's art. But it offers a goodness that looks like it's really real, because it probably is. The Poisonwood Bible is a better book. This one is as true or truer.

[Lorena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book! I loved how the book gave nearly a full account of the lives of the main characters. I kept wondering which parts were true. I would have liked an addendum to explore that more.

Much to my surprise, I liked the Chinese words interspersed throughout (with their translations, of course!). I learned so much about China’s history and culture, as well as what it might be like to serve in a foreign mission. I have gained a desire to learn more about China and also spend some time there.

I loved the testimony and faith of Will and Catherine that was shown in their thoughts and actions.

Thank you, Carinne, for the recommendation!

[June · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a three-star throughout, so quiet (tranquil?) and at times agonizing. But then the final chapter, and I knew I couldn't keep sitting at the kitchen table in the middle of the family and read this. I left hurriedly, closed the bedroom door to invaders, and sat on the bed with my face in my hands, crying.

Yes, we have faith. We live all our lives in faith, but losses keep coming, doubts harass us, we are forsaken, torn from our homeland.

"Though He slay me, I will trust Him." I do pray this. I dare you to. Perhaps you will find, as I have, that if you pray this, He will go on slaying you.

As He may. This is His city, and His light.