self image and family. Terra's dad is verbally abusive to the whole family. Her brothers are old enough to have moved away from home leaving Terra to be the buffer between her father and her cowed mother. Terra has other problems too--one side of her face is covered by a wine colored birthmark. She covers it with makeup and dreams of a treatment that will finally get rid of it altogether. Her journey of self-discovery is illustrated with references to map making. Years before this story takes place, Terra's father had staked his academic career on an ancient Chinese map that turned out to be a very good fake. This event echoes through the whole story. Terra's oldest brother works as a high priced lawyer in China. Her father displays maps in their house--but none of Asia. And most important, Terra meets Jacob, whose Goth sensibilities challenge how she views the world. With Jacob and his coffee buyer mom, Terra and her mother travel to China to visit Terra's brother and the orphanage that Jacob lived in as a baby.
Beautiful.
