Echoes A Good New Year to one and all. One month a few years ago, our book group discussed The Good Earth , by Pearl S. Buck. The book tells the story of Wang-Lung and his wife O-Lan in Anhui province, China. Partly due to hard work, and partly to turns of fate, Wang-Lung progresses from struggling peasant to wealthy landowner. Pearl S. Buck grew up in China in the early 20 th century, the daughter of American Christian missionaries there. As I read the book, a couple of echoes, faint and obscure, came to mind, but first I should confess to snobbery. After the first fifty or so pages, I abandoned my attempt to read the book. It felt to me like Catherine Cookson goes to China. A couple of days later, by complete coincidence, the author was mentioned on the radio as a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature. I therefore felt duty bound to return to the book. I did finish it and in doing so, encountered two episodes of déjà vu. And don’t tell me I can say that again, I’ve heard that ...