This enchanting novel is both a modern-day epic and a work of great emotional and spiritual depth. Mei-li Murrow is born in San Francisco in 1895, the illegitimate daughter of a charismatic con man and the Chinese prostitute he has "rescued" from the streets. When young Mei-li by chance predicts the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, her scheming half-sister exploits Mei-li as a psychic. But Mei-li rejects popular "spirituality" and seeks a truer vision.