I am the Boris in John Derbyshire's brilliant first novel. I have had the priviledge of having Mr. Derbyshire work in my Department at a Wall Street firm allowing him to write his novel at the office. What has John done? He has put together a masterful novel of a Chinese immigrant who comes to this country with his Chinese wife and as many of us do, fantasizes about a former girlfriend who has also immigrated to this country. Unlike many of us husbands, he visits her. He then weaves in the 30th president of the United States who helps preserve his marriage. It should be noted that Mr. Derbyshire is English, went to China to teach and fell in love with and married one of his students. He does have a genuine fondness for Mr. Coolidge. We have debated to what extent the book is autobiographical, which he vehemetly denies although his wife hates the book. So be it. If you want a good, thoughtful read, try this acclaimed book.

Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream is a fine work, quite amazing in weaving together such different strands as the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the pain of regret and lost love, the terse, no-nonsense wisdom of a vastly underrated President and individual, and the question of making moral choices. A book very deliberately against the modern grain. In short, just what we need in an age when art so often fails to elevate.

I understand this is the author's first published novel, and it is a masterpiece. The Englishman manages to capture the cadences of both Chinese immigrant and Yankee Puritan with aplomb. The use of language is breathtaking, the analogies awesome and the story itself charming, funny and totally uplifting. In the process he manages to paint a wonderful portrait of the most neglected President of the twentieth century, the magnificent Calvin Coolidge.