"One Thousand Layers of Water and Clouds” is just that, a mystic multi-layered story. In it, we follow Shui Yun (Nancy Chen Baldwin) in her quest for identity, roots, and success. Sold at age 5 for the high price of US$100, she becomes “chambermaid” to a childless Taiwanese woman who later takes her to the US with its competing life styles and visions. There, Shui Yun again must come to terms with finding love and survival amidst the Vietnam War era, Civil Rights, Affirmative Action, Reaganomics, and an increasingly prosperous US aerospace industry. Told with brutal honesty and frankness, Shui Yin’s detailed journey is her own detailed journey; yet it also mirrors what many Taiwanese, and other Asians had to face as well. With little gloss, and no major heroes; timing and preparation have their role as well as luck, attitude, and friends; it’s an intriguing quest in an intriguing time."

An inspiring book, a portrayal of human spirit that is illustrative of life experiences of many women in East Asia in her era, and perhaps today

“In this age of remakes, click-bait, and AI-generated texts, Nancy Chen Baldwin’s “One Thousand Layers of Water and Clouds, The Tale of a Taiwanese Daughter” stands out as a unique and vivid memoir that is all-too-human. Baldwin’s story begins as a “throw away child”, a girl sold into adoption by parents in financial difficulties. And so, jarringly, she begins her new life. Her adoptive mother Grace works as a paid companion to American military men stationed in Taiwan in the 1960s. Grace is a tough cookie, but her mother – Granny Chen – a blind Buddhist full of faith and kindness, surrounds Nancy with love, and teaches her all about the fascinating deities, rituals, and superstitions of traditional Taiwanese religion. Slowly, over the years, Nancy adapts to her new circumstances, and starts to feel almost normal, when suddenly she is yanked away by Grace and her new American husband to the United States, where she once again has to start anew. Decades later, an American professional woman in full control of her life, she returns to Taiwan to find and confront her birth parents. But can we ever really get full closure with the sadness of the past? This memoir is a bittersweet and authentic immigrant tale, full of interesting characters and events.”