A Shimmering Sea ells of a quest for home, told through a vivid and lyrical sequence of narratives. Sophronia Liu chronicles first her beginnings in 1950s Hong Kong, and about her family. Some 20 years later, when Liu was a student in the American Midwest, memories of these people and places flooded back to haunt her. Responding to their call, Sophronia eventually returned to Hong Kong in 2006, to live near her native village and continue to write. She died on 14 January 2013, one day after her 60th birthday.