The Natural Laws of Good Luck: A Memoir of an Unlikely Marriage

Ellen is forty-six, divorced, and having no luck with personal ads when her Chinese girlfriend comes up with a plan- she has a brother in China, Zhong-hua, who’s lonely too. Maybe they’d like each other? Taking a leap of faith that most of us wouldn’t dare, Ellen travels to China to meet him. Though they speak only a few words of each other’s language, there’s an unspoken connection between them and they decide to marry. What follows is a remarkably touching and humorous story of two people from completely different worlds trying to make a marriage work. Settling in at Ellen’s ramshackle farmhouse in upstate New York, they quickly discover the cultural chasm that lies between them. Ellen and her teenage daughter decide to adopt a policy of nonjudgment as Zhong-hua lobbies to sell their refrigerator ( Just three people, no need ), serves them giant sea slugs for dinner, and brusquely nudges Ellen aside without an excuse me ( Family no need these kind of words ). Zhong-hua is not the type to offer his wife impromptu smiles or hugs, but in bed at nig