Mei-Li

Several have asked about Nora's middle name. Mei and Li are Chinese words that mean "beautiful" and "gift" respectively. We checked with a couple folks who are fluent in Mandarin to make sure that Mei-Li couldn't also mean "overgrown raccoon" or something weird like that. Receiving the OK from them, we decided that "Beautiful-Gift" was pretty appropriate. In case you're wondering, it's pronounced "may lee." Also coincidentally, Mei is part of the Chinese word for "America." America is "Meiguo"--literally "beautiful land." A fitting name for a little one coming to live in a beautiful land!