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Per i Nowak, proprietari di una celebre fabbrica di pianoforti nella Brooklyn del dopoguerra, il sogno americano sembra essersi realizzato. Hanno un solo problema: David, il loro unico figlio. Bello e timido, sin dall'infanzia deve fare i conti con le proprie nevrosi. Se non fosse per Marianne, suo primo grande amore, la vita gli risulterebbe intollerabile. Alla morte del padre David vende l'azienda e, quando anche il rapporto con Marianne diventa impossibile, inizia a viaggiare per il mondo. A Taiwan, l'incontro con Daisy, l'affascinante figlia della proprietaria di un bordello, segna un punto di svolta. Assieme tornano negli Stati Uniti e comprano una casa nei boschi della California, dove conducono una vita maniacalmente isolata con il loro figlio William. Ma la salute mentale di David continua a peggiorare e la nascita della piccola Gillian darà il via a un tragico corso di eventi che si rivelerà fatale per più di un membro della famiglia. Facendo ricorso a un suggestivo espediente narrativo (ogni capitolo è narrato da un diverso protagonista), Il confine del paradiso, romanzo d'esordio di Esmé Weijun Wang, ci racconta le varie forme che può assumere la malattia mentale – di cui la stessa autrice soffre –, restituendoci un ritratto di famiglia che lascia sconvolti e turbati, ma anche incredibilmente affascinati.

In booming postwar Brooklyn, the Nowak Piano Company is an American success story. There is just one problem: the Nowak's only son, David. A handsome kid and shy like his mother, David struggles with neuroses. If not for his only friend, Marianne, David's life would be intolerable. When David inherits the piano company at just 18 and Marianne breaks things off, David sells the company and travels around the world. In Taiwan, his life changes when he meets the daughter of a local madame — the sharp-tongued, intelligent Daisy. Returning to the United States, the couple (and newborn son) buy an isolated country house in Northern California's Polk Valley. As David's health deteriorates, he has a brief affair with Marianne, producing a daughter.It's Daisy's solution for the future of her two children, inspired by the old Chinese tradition of raising girls as sisterly wives for adoptive brothers, that exposes Daisy's traumatic life, and the terrible inheritance her children must receive. Framed by two suicide attempts, The Border of Paradise is told from multiple perspectives, culminating in heartrending fashion as the young heirs to the Nowak fortune confront their past and their isolation.

International Federation for Information Processing The IFIP series publishes state-of-the-art results in the sciences and technologies of information and communication. The scope of the series includes: foundations of computer science; software theory and practice; education; computer applications in technology; communication systems; systems modeling and optimization; information systems; computers and society; computer systems technology; security and protection in information processing systems; artificial intelligence; and human-computer interaction. Proceedings and post-proceedings of referred international conferences in computer science and interdisciplinary fields are featured. These results often precede journal publication and represent the most current research. The principal aim of the IFIP series is to encourage education and the dissemination and exchange of information about all aspects of computing. For more information about the 300 other books in the IFIP series, please visit www.springer.com. For more information about IFIP, please visit www.ifip.org.

International Federation for Information Processing The IFIP series publishes state-of-the-art results in the sciences and technologies of information and communication. The scope of the series includes: foundations of computer science; software theory and practice; education; computer applications in technology; communication systems; systems modeling and optimization; information systems; computers and society; computer systems technology; security and protection in information processing systems; artificial intelligence; and human-computer interaction. Proceedings and post-proceedings of referred international conferences in computer science and interdisciplinary fields are featured. These results often precede journal publication and represent the most current research. The principal aim of the IFIP series is to encourage education and the dissemination and exchange of information about all aspects of computing. For more information about the 300 other books in the IFIP series, please visit www.springer.com. For more information about IFIP, please visit www.ifip.org.