The fortunes have smiled widely upon Evelina Chao. Gifted with both music and poetry, this violist for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra has written a memoir, “Yeh Yeh’s House,” that carries readers to China, where her ancestors endured the cruelties of the Cultural Revolution and also enjoyed a land of beauty. In 1987 Chao traveled to China with her mother, a stoic figure (often infuriatingly so) who nevertheless showed her the stories and faces that make up her family’s history. In visiting her grandfather Yeh Yeh’s house after his death, Chao found answers to many of the questions familiar to people of divided heritage, who feel the pull of faraway lands. Galleria, 3225 W. 69th St., Edina; 952-920-0633
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