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The Foremost Good Fortune: A Memoir
Susan Conley
2011, 273 pages
Nonfiction
Susan Conley, her husband, and two young sons move to Beijing in 2009. Susan's husband Tony is there to set up a company, and he speaks fluent Mandarin. Susan does not speak Mandarin and worries because she can't remember how to pronounce the number eight, which is their floor in their apartment building. Their apartment is in a high-rise over eight lanes of rushing traffic. Beijing can be overwhelming to this family from Portland, Maine, with its traffic, smog, and construction for the upcoming Olympics.
This memoir tells of the family's two years in China, their struggles and their pleasant surprises. They expect to expand their world, travel and become closer as a family. Susan and the boys plan to learn Mandarin. Susan writes, “But what happens while we're there is that one of us gets cancer. It turns out to be me. . . For us, cancer becomes the story within the China story. China and cancer are both big countries, so there's a lot to say about each.”
Susan writes with honesty about trying to live in these two unfamiliar countries.
