In 1999 in Santa Cruz, California, 19-year-old Johnny Bartooth is unexpectedly visited by Heron, an ageing hippy, his father's old friend. Heron has come to give Johnny a journal which the boy's father, Bartooth, wrote many years before. In 1978, Bartooth went to China, and one night made the fateful mistake of going for a walk by himself through dark streets in Guangzhou. He was attacked, stabbed and clubbed by a gang of bandits. He found himself a few days later in a hospital bed, coming out of a coma. In front of him was a beautiful Chinese doctor, Mei, who had been born in San Francisco and could speak English. There was an immediate strong attraction between Bartooth and Mei, who was married to, but separated from, her husband in North-eastern China. They talked whenever they could, and soon fell in love. They became lovers but Bartooth had to return to Hong Kong. He promised Mei that he would arrange for her to go to the USA, where they could marry. In Hong Kong Bartooth learned that Mei was pregnant. Passionate to keep his promise and to establish a family, he devised a plan to smuggle Mei and the newborn baby out of China. Part of the plan went well, but Mei never turned up in Hong Kong. After waiting in distress for weeks, Bartooth brought baby Johnny to his sister Belle, in Santa Cruz, and in desperation returned to China to search for Mei and bring her back to the U.S. No one heard from him or Mei after that. So when Heron arrives, Johnny has been living with his Aunt Belle in Santa Cruz for 19 years. Receiving his father's journal opens up a deep curiosity in Johnny about his father and mother. Johnny feels he has no choice: his number one priority is to try to find some trace of his parents. In Book 2 Johnny uncovers more details about Bartooth and Mei from several people who were involved with them. He goes to China and, with very little to go on, tries to track down his mother and father. Book 2 completes the story of Bartooth and Mei, with episodes that are joyful, thrilling and tragic. Bright Moon Ridge: A search in China is a riveting, highly original novel.
