Language: English

FIC000000  –  Fiction / General

Worldwide

From the tranquility of an Oriental monastery to the tumult of the New York Stock Exchange, the hero of this amazing novel embarks on a quest for a father, a fortune, and the ultimate essence of the universe. The illegitimate son of a Chinese woman and an American combat pilot, he was reared as an orphan by Taoist monks. When he learn that his father may be a wealthy Wall Street entrepreneur, he feels compelled to go to New York. His efforts to reconcile his two lives—to find the Tao within the Dow—make for a story rich in character, wit, and insight.

"This novel, with its glorious style and rich profusion of detail, should remind readers of the time, fading into memory, when the works of John Barth began to burst on the literary horizon. It is, for all its length, a book to be read twice, first to be gulped down in great chunks during sleepless nights; later to be sipped slowly, savoring details, like a well-brewed cup of tea… absorbing and deeply rewarding."

—- Joseph McLellan, Washington Post Book World

"David Payne's first novel reads like the happy collaboration of the eastern mystic Lao Tzu and the discount broker Charles Schwab, a hybrid of the I CHING and HOW TO PROFIT FROM THE COMING STOCK MARKET CRASH co-written by a prophet and a profiteer. I marvel at Payne’s virtuosity, his technical brilliance, his enormous ambition. Take a tip: his stock is bound to rise."

—- The Dallas Morning News

"Exuberant... the makings of a young Charles Dickens—a consummate storyteller in love with language and all the variations of life, people, and improbable situations."

—- Business Week

David Payne