In this richly imagined novel-in-stories, Silber explores connections between cultures and countries, and the power of place to change a person's life. Drawing on historical events from wartime Vietnam to colonial Thailand, Mexico and 9/11-era United States, her loosely linked chapters follow travelers, immigrants and ex-pats as they leave home for adventures into the foreign, forever changed in unexpected ways. Silber, who has traveled extensively in Asia, grounds her globe-spanning narrative with the personal yearnings, hopes and fears of each character. Her prose, heartfelt yet unsentimental, creates a textured portrait of a complex world, in which the distance between countries are often smaller than the distance between people.  (WLD143, $14.95)