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Summary: Tells the story of three generations of Chinese women, beginning at the turn of the century. Ruth decides to move in with her ailing mother LuLing, and while tendering to her, discovers the story LuLing wrote in Chinese, of her tumultuous life, growing up in a remote mountain village, known as Immortal Heart. LuLing tells of the secrets passed along by her mute nursemaid, Precious Auntie, of the crumbling ravine where Precious Auntie's bones lie; and of the curse that LuLing believes she released through betrayal. Who was Precious Auntie, whose suicide changed the path of LuLing's life?