Amanda Hale

My Sweet Curiosity by Amanda Hall is a great read. Set in Toronto, the novel tells a love story between Talya, a medical student, and Dai Ling, a cello student. Both are from immigrant families that come a long way after escaping respectively from communist Russia and China. The myth of Talya’s birth, a career link between her and Andreas Vesalius, the founder of modern human anatomy, and her family’s linkage to the Romanovs are fascinating. The musical talent of Dai Ling can be traced back to her Chinese grandfather that she’s never met; her bravery is inherited from her French Canadian grandmother. The love between the two girls seems to be fated, from which they can identify their passion, devotement, desperation, and joy. According to Dai Ling’s father, East meets West in Toronto. However, the conflicted beliefs in medical practice, family value, and love also encounter in a kaleidoscope of the city. The scene of Talya’s confrontation with Dai Ling’s father is very enjoyable, but the storyline of Andreas Vesalius reads tedious to some extent. At the end of the story, when the reader pictures the image of Talya with the skull of Andreas Vesalius immersing in the melody played by Dai Ling, mixed feelings of satisfaction and sadness arise.… (meer)