""A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you, and me, and every one of us who is, or was, or ever will be." In Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao has decided there's only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates' bullying. But before she ends it all, Nao first plans to document the life of her great grandmother, a Buddhist nun who's lived more than a century. A diary is Nao's only solace--and will touch lives in ways she...

Includes a bonus track of Tenzin Palmo introducing a retreat. This is the story of Tenzin Palmo, the daughter of a fishmonger from London's East End who became a Tibetan nun. After meditating for 12 years in a cave 13,000 feet up in the Himalayas, she became a world-renowned spiritual leader and champion of the right of women to achieve spiritual enlightenment. Diane Perry grew up in London's East End. At the age of 18, however, she read a book...

"From "China's foremost literary satirist" (Financial Times) comes a captivating new novel set at a religious training center in Beijing, focusing on the love story of a Buddhist nun and a Daoist priest. At the Religious Training Center on the campus of Beijing's National Politics University, disciples of China's five main religions-Buddhism, Daoism, Protestantism, Catholicism, and Islam-gather for a year of intensive study and training. In this hallowed...