The author integrates the fantastical and historical in a dream on dream - layer on layer of a book. The character may have a dream - and in the dream a character will tell a story and in that story you encounter a mystery that envolves another dream - etc. etc. And you think that you will never find the thread to lead you home - yet all is kept meticulously on track from Faust to Alice in Wonderland - this book is engrossing and bewitching - I can honestly say that I have never encountered a more startlingly original book. It deserves the Daedalys Award it received. If you like David Foster Wallace, Madeline L'Engel, Lewis Carroll - you are assured of a satisfying and brilliant read.

The story of a tenth-century Mandarin who travels through time to Germany in the 1980s, Rosendorfer's book is told as a series of letters to a friend back home. At heart, this book is an attempt to examine the fundamental questions of how our lives are affected by progress. For the most part, it succeeds. This book is quite humorous, and a highly enjoyable reading experience. Recommened.