The patron said she read the book several years ago, but she doesn't remember how long. Here is what she remembers: it is set in California. There is a character who lives with the family on their land where they grow trees(?). The character is from Asia, maybe China and lives as a man, but at the end of the novel, it is revealed that he is actually a woman.

And my patron thinks the author is a woman with a three part name (like Barbara Taylor Bradford).

Any ideas?

Thanks so much!

Elizabeth Campion
Shelby Township Library

The library is not, as some would have it, a place for the retiring of disposition or faint of heart. It is not an ivory tower or a quiet room in a sanitarium facing away from the afternoon sun. It is, rather, a command center, a power base. A board room, a war room. An Oval Office for all who preside over their own destinies. One does not retreat from the world here; one prepares to join it at an advantage.”

― Eric Burns, The Joy of Books: Confessions of a Lifelong Reader