A stirring glimpse into the culture of Tibet... A moving account of religion and love... A powerful debut by a talented new writer

In 1954 Emma and Gerald Kittredge leave their secure Quaker community and travel to the small Tibetan town of Shigatse where they soon find companionship with their neighbors, Dorje and Rinchen, and their sons Dawa and Chumpa. But the arrival of Maoist soldiers into their quiet life shatters everything.

Gerald is captured by the soldiers, leaving a pregnant Emma at the mercy of her Tibetan neighbors; relying on them for survival and spiritual support. Dorje and Rinchen cope with their sons; one who chooses a path of violence, despite his monastic life, and the other who must grow up amid political struggle. Told in three distinct voices rich in their respective spiritual traditions, Falling to Heaven is ultimately a novel about faith: losing it and rediscovering it in places you'd never expect.

In a startlingly poignant voice, debut writer Peterson explores the duality of religion as both the Quakers and Buddhists reconcile their spiritual tenets. And through it all, the reader witnesses an overwhelming beauty - in the lush Himalayas of Tibet, considered the ceiling of the world, in a place believed to be the closest to heaven.