Filling a Void

Love and Revolution is a deeply personal exploration of love and the meaning of life during 1968-87. Johan, who turned 14 in the spring of 1968, faces emotional, philosophical, and ideological challenges in a turbulent time. The novel suite should resonate with readers drawn to character-driven, reflective narratives.

Filling a Void - Love and Revolution, Book 1
Johan flies to Hong Kong where he begins a long journey through Deng Xiaoping's China. He is seeking answers to questions lingering from his youth while also doing interviews for articles about China's economic, cultural, and political transformation. He travels by train, bus, river boat, and a couple of times by plane. Wherever he goes, he meets people who are eager to talk to foreigners, if for nothing else, to practice their English. In Guangzhou (Canton) he meets a man who tells him that his parents committed suicide during the Cultural Revolution and that he just escaped after having been imprisoned for 14 years. He will hear many more stories about suffering during Mao's reign, but he is also struck by the cautious optimism of both young and old.
From the megacity Chongqing, he takes a three-day long river cruise down the Changjiang River (Yangtze). While onboard, he reflects on his youth, on Maoism, and reads a travelogue from 1850, written by Abbé Huc, a French missionary who spoke both Mandarin and Tibetan. He finds the book highly relevant despite its age. Even as China is opening up, which allows him to collect material for his stories, the long shadow of history is always present, as is the spiritual vacuum after Mao.

During his stops in Kunming, Xiamen, and Shanghai, he meets several women that catches his interest, but nothing happens besides the thrill of it all. However, two months into his journey, he meets and falls in love with an American woman at a Western discotheque in Beijing.

"There is no way she's going to say yes, I told myself, but a little devil whispered in my ear that I simply had to try."

Her name is Sophia, and she is from New York. They only meet for two evenings, but she reciprocates his feelings, and they begin to write each other. When Johan has finished and sold his stories, he flies to New York where she meets him at the JFK Airport.