River of Dust opens on the bare and desolate steppes of China, not long after the Boxer Rebellion where a  small band of missionaries work with the Chinese peasants in this time of great social upheaval, suspicion and famine. The Reverend, as his wife, Grace, calls him, leads this group of foreigners with a sense of vision and purpose in spite of the challenges they face, until one day when Mongol tribesman sweep through the small village and kidnap their young son, Wesley.

On that day everything changes.  The Reverend, vowing to find his son, begins to travel with his Chinese servant Ahcho, all over the desolate region following any leads that will lead him to Wesley.  Grace, however, pregnant with their second child, soon takes to bed in illness and grief and is cared for by her servant Mai Lin.

The Reverend, consumed with this new mission and filled with his own complicated grief and guilt, begins to change, finding solace not in the Bible but in a book of Chinese poetry that he reads on his journeys.  Coming home only for short visits, he now has seemingly abandoned not only Grace in her time of need, but also the other missionaries who count on his leadership and maybe even God.  Soon he is carrying odd bits and pieces on his belt and around his neck- collections of things that remind of his mission to find his boy. His body becomes gaunt and tired and still he returns to his search.  These changes are noticed and soon the Chinese are calling him Ghost Man not only for his appearance but for his apparent powers as he confronts many dangers along the war which are recounted by the peasants with awe. Grace, even in her dazed and confused state, notices these changes as well and comments that “[h]ad she not heard the actual tinkle of bells, the footfalls of their animals, the clapping of the pouches and bags attached to the Reverend’s belt, she might have believed he was made only of sorrow and air.”

As the Reverend and Grace travel through this “valley of shadow and death,” their two companions, Ahcho and Mai Lin begin to fear that they will both be lost and become conspirators in trying to help them regain their footing and get back on the path towards life. Their plotting and bickering is both funny and heart wrenching, and their devotion to these two foreigners who they do not understand, unexpected and grace filled.

Pye’s writing is haunting and melancholy, and she shows us the depth of despair that can fill someone who suffers such an unbearable loss.  As the granddaughter of missionaries in China she is apparently mining a part of her own family’s history, but to my disappointment her descriptions of missionary life in China or of a life of faith that might lead someone to become a missionary do not seem to be enriched by these sources. In the end, however, this book tells us much about the the resilience of the human spirit, the great capacity of one person to forgive another and the role of Fate and/or Providence in providing the most unexpected guides to help along the way.  

Brenda’s Rating: ***1/2 (31/2 Stars out of 5)

Recommend this book to: Sharon and Keith

Book Study Worthy: Yes

Read in ebook format.