Forever Lily: An Unexpected Mother's Journey to Adoption in China [Paperback]

Beth Nonte Russell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 2007

"Will you take her?" she asks.

When Beth Nonte Russell travels to China to help her friend Alex adopt a baby girl from an orphanage there, she thinks it will be an adventure, a chance to see the world. But her friend, who had prepared for the adoption for many months, panics soon after being presented with the frail baby, and the situation develops into one of the greatest challenges of Russell's life.

Russell, watching in disbelief as Alex distances herself from the child, cares for the baby -- clothing, bathing, and feeding her -- and makes her feel secure in the unfamiliar surroundings. Russell is overwhelmed and disoriented by the unfolding drama and all that she sees in China, and yet amid the emotional turmoil finds herself deeply bonding with the child. She begins to have dreams of an ancient past -- dreams of a young woman who is plucked from the countryside and chosen to be empress, and of the child who is ultimately taken from her. As it becomes clear that her friend -- whose indecisiveness about the adoption has become a torment -- won't be bringing the baby home, Russell is amazed to realize that she cannot leave the baby behind and that her dreams have been telling her something significant, giving her the courage to open her heart and bring the child home against all odds.

Steeped in Chinese culture, Forever Lily is an extraordinary account of a life-changing, wholly unexpected love.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Russell was asked by a friend, Alex, to accompany her to China to help her pick up the baby she and her husband were adopting. While parents usually make the trip together, Alex's husband had to stay home to care for another child. Russell didn't know Alex all that well, but agreed to go anyway. In this offbeat memoir, Russell describes the trip. It wasn't long into it before she noticed signs of Alex's ambivalence— she'd brought no camera to document the baby's adoption, and she'd refused to spend more time in China than was absolutely necessary. Meanwhile, Russell was having heavily symbolic dreams: she was an empress of China pregnant with an illegitimate child who had to be given away for adoption. Before long, Alex confessed that she didn't want this baby after all, and Russell fell in love with the baby herself. In the end, Russell brought home the baby she felt she was meant to have. The foreshadowing's heavy-handed, the dreams perhaps too prescient and some apparitions—the Virgin Mary, no less— strain credulity. But spiritual-minded readers might embrace the concept of linking reincarnation, adoption and fate. (Mar.)
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Review

"Beth Nonte Russell is a superb storyteller, and readers will be enraptured by her faith, courage, and imagination as she discovers a new life."

-- Senator Richard G. Lugar (In-R), Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Committee

"Lyrically written and emotionally evocative, laced with the author's haunting dreams, Forever Lily is a precious gift for the reader, and will be deservedly remembered by all who turn its pages."

-- Jean Sasson, New York Times bestselling author of Princess

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 212 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone (March 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743292979
• ISBN-13: 978-0743292979
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #970,990 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Avoid this book!, July 18, 2008

By 

Timothy Longman Traveller (Cambridge, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Forever Lily: An Unexpected Mother's Journey to Adoption in China (Paperback)

I am spending a few months abroad in South Africa, and a friend who visited left this book with me. I am considering an international adoption, so I thought the book would be interesting. However, this ranks as one of the worst, most annoying books that I have ever picked up. The author tells the story of how when she accompanied a friend to pick up the Chinese baby that the friend was adopting, she ended up adopting the child herself. If she had told the story in a straightforward fashion, it might have been fine, though her writing is not particularly strong and her personality not particularly sympathetic, since she has little compassion for her friend and shows little understanding of Chinese culture and society. But instead, she intersperses the text with accounts of her dreams about being a concubine to an Emperor. A good third of the book is about her dreams, which she sees as significant but which are in fact an offensive Orientalist fantasy. I found her reactions to and descriptions of China and the Chinese people offensive. If that isn't enough, in the middle of the book she starts bringing in her mystic spiritual adviser, whom she contacts several times from China. I have no objection to faith and the mystical - in fact, I love magical realism - but the author's mystical inclinations are so poorly developed and so lacking in reflection that they really become annoying. The book becomes increasingly focused on fate and how she has been destined to adopt this baby since her teen years when she started speaking Chinese in her sleep! Rubish!! How do things like this get published?

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Hmmm...., March 22, 2007

By 

Lyric Saison (Cambridge, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Forever Lily: An Unexpected Mother's Journey to Adoption in China (Paperback)

This book was engaging, but I wouldn't exactly say it was great. The author interrups the flow of the story with long, rambling re-tellings of her dreams. The dream sequences seem a bit too conveniently in line with the real-life event, making them seem forced. I had to skip over them to get to the acutal meat of the story.
The author writes like a therapist when describing others, leading to a somewhat clinical and distant tone. The most intruiging aspect of the story is the friend who was originally supposed to adopt the child. Without ever saying anything negative, the author painted a picture of a horribly selfish and irresponsible person. My anger at this woman is what kept me engaged.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unfortunate book about Chinese adoption, March 2, 2009

By 

Mother of four "M. James" (Charlottesville, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Forever Lily: An Unexpected Mother's Journey to Adoption in China (Paperback)

I have read many books about China and Chinese adoption. I am adoptive mother myself, and I am always interested in this topic. This book was probably the worst I have ever read. I hope the little girl in question and the author, as well as the mother who intended to adopt but did not, are all doing okay. The author paints a very unfortunate picture of a woman who gets to China and gets overwhelmed by the prospect of adoption. I believe the author's own actions serve to derail her friend, not help her, and show very little compassion for her friend's point of view, while making herself out to be a saint. I've been there, and believe me, it is easy to get overwhelmed during this process! Adoption from China is a little bit like going on a blind date and bringing your date home with you...forever! Yes, it is scary! Not everyone is going to feel an instant magical connection to their adoptive child. And it doesn't help matters that the child is just dropped off at a hotel or office building with strangers. The child is even more traumatized than the adoptive parents!It takes a sense of humor, patience, faith, hope, and support for some families to eventually feel like families. The author's friend should have left this woman at home and brought her husband along, presumably her true best friend. Maybe he could have given her the support that she desperately needed during those weeks in China. I hope she has stopped beating herself up about her trip to China and moved on with her life. As for the author, I don't know what to say. I hope she is no longer working as a counselor. She seems a little crazy.