Spirit Baby

There's an ancient Chinese belief that women possess two hearts; an upper heart associated with the standard Western heart, and a lower heart tied to the uterus. They say that women hold dreams of infants, lost children, and babies never-meant-to-be in their upper hearts, while babies destined to be born travel to their mother's lower heart. "With my lower heart as empty as ever, and my upper heart full of lost babies and broken dreams, my husband and I planned an escape to China". When Americans Nina and Chris Little step off the plane onto Chinese soil, they are a couple in crisis. Fleeing the heartbreak of yet another miscarriage, the anguish of failed fertility treatments, and the silence of their childless home, they arrive in Beijing just in time for the spring sand storms. During their travels, Nina discovers unexpected wonder in her world. Will she find the same in herself, her marriage, and her future? Part memoir, part travelogue, Spirit Baby weaves together themes of longing, loss, and learning how to live again, while celebrating the healing benefits of travel. But more than anything, the book is about the power of love -- the love between a man and a woman, and the love of a woman for her children, unborn and born.