The Communist's Daughter

Dennis Bock’s novel The Communist’s Daughter met with praise from readers and reviewers the moment it reached bookstore shelves, debuting as an instant Maclean’s bestseller. This is the story of legendary Canadian doctor Norman Bethune—visionary, radical, martyr. Amidst the death and chaos of the Japanese army’s advance into the hills of northern China, Bethune composes a wrenching letter to his daughter, a small child he has never seen, the daughter of a woman abandoned in war-torn Spain.

Set against the tumult of the late 1930s, The Communist’s Daughter is a remarkable depiction of the moral ambiguities of war, political idealism and personal responsibility, an elegant, passionate novel that unfolds against the sweep of history.