California in the 1960s and 70s forms the background to a saga of one family’s passions, past and present, played out against the explosive era of the Vietnam War. It follows the young part-Chinese heiress, May Reade, as she searches through her illustrious heritage for the roots of her own identity and her struggle to reconcile her Asian self with the American. Her journey of self-discovery takes her from the anti-war barricades of Berkeley to a remote village in China where she at last meets the mother who had deserted her at birth. There, in the country of her ancestors, she will not only begin to understand her confusion, but will find her future happiness and, in the final, savage climax of the fall of Saigon, decide her own destiny.     Gift of the Golden Mountain continues the story of the pioneering Reade family, first encountered in the author’s earlier novel Hers the Kingdom. Seen through the eyes of faith, lifelong family friends and archivist, it describes with telling effect the pain one generation inflicts on the next, and the healing power of love and compassion, forgiveness and commitment.