Julia, the first-person narrator of many chapters, is intensely skeptical. He says he will wait for her in the tearoom the next day to begin telling her the story of her father. She enters one of the multiple tearooms in Kalaw-only to be approached by a decrepit, older man, U Ba, who calls her by name and reveals that he has been waiting for her. Julia decides to search for Tin after finding a passionate 40-year-old letter to a woman named Mi Mi in her father’s personal affects. Tin is a well-known attorney who abruptly flew to Hong Kong and Bangkok before disappearing four years ago. In Part 1, Julia Win, an attorney from New York City, travels to Kalaw, Burma (modern Myanmar) to search for her father, Tin Win. This guide is based on the Other Press paperback edition (2006). Sendker blends themes-including the loss of loved ones, determining one’s fate, and the immutability of true love-through a series of intriguing vignettes that challenge the reader with unaccustomed perceptions. The novel’s intricate themes make its characterization difficult, though most reviewers describe it as a general fiction novel.

Upon arriving in her father’s birthplace, Julia is astonished to encounter a strange man who has waited four years to share her father’s complete, intriguing story. The catalyst for her search is the discovery of an old love letter from her father to an unknown woman in Burma. The story follows Julia Win, a young attorney, who attempts to track down her father, a well-known New York lawyer and Burmese national, who suddenly disappears. The novel is international in scope-being written by a German journalist who lived in upstate New York, detailing events in a mountain village in Burma (modern Myanmar). In response to such acclaim, Sendker penned a sequel, A Well-Tempered Heart, in 2012. An international bestseller, the novel received the Indies Choice Honor Award for Best Fiction Novel in 2013. Originally written in German and published in 2002, Jan-Philipp Sendker’s debut novel, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, was translated into English by Kevin Wiliarty in 2006.

A well tempered heart