Beautiful Country: A Novel

“Simple but wonderful . . . authentic, pure and heartbreaking . . . (Thornton) is an exceptionally gifted young writer.”—Mo Yan, 2012 Nobel Laureate in Literature

A coming-of-age story set in modern day China centering on the friendship between an American and a Chinese boy who meet while training with Beijing’s Junior National Tennis Team.

Chase Robertson arrives in Beijing as a fourteen-year-old boy still troubled by the recent death of his older brother. He discovers a country in transitio...