River of Dust: A Novel

On the windswept plains of northwestern China, Mongol bandits swoop down upon an American missionary couple and steal their small child. The reverend sets out in search of the boy and becomes lost in the rugged, corrupt countryside populated by opium dens, sly nomadic warlords, and traveling circuses. This upright Midwestern minister develops a following among the Chinese peasants and is christened Ghost Man for what they perceive as his otherworldly powers. Grace, his young wife, pregnant ...