House of the Turquoise Roof

Mrs. Dorje Yuthok’s frank and fascinating account of life in upper-class Lhasa before the Chinese occupation is also a quiet, dignified description of a noblewoman’s status in the family and the community. She moved in the highest government circles—both her father and her husband were cabinet ministers, and her brother served as prime minister. Yet her outlook on life is grounded in the Buddhist practice she learned as a close disciple of well-known lamas and spiritual teachers.