Book excerpt: The author takes the reader on a journey that begins in 17th Century Amsterdam, Holland and the tumultuous life of a "heretic." Some two hundred years later in the placid country-side of the north, the birth of a male child, an ancestor to the "heretic," is celebrated. His mother is a Sephardic Jew, and his father, who has rejected his Protestantism, is a staunch atheist. We follow the ancestors of the "heretic" from generation to generation: from the jungles of Indonesia, to the city of Shanghai, China, back to The Netherlands and finally to Vancouver, Canada. Throughout the story, we are given examples of unique characters showing great courage, bravery, defiance and spirituality. The reader is left with a strengthened faith in humanity.