A story of love, blood and dreams, set in early 20th century China

In the early 20th century, China is a land undergoing a momentous social and cultural shift, with a thousand-year-old empire crumbling and the nation on the brink of modernity. Against this backdrop, a quiet man from the North embarks on a perilous journey to a Southern city in the grip of a savage snowstorm. He carries with him a newborn baby: he is looking for the child’s mother and a city that isn’t there.

This is a story of two people: a man who finds unexpected success after having journeyed to the hometown of the woman who abandoned him; and the woman he is searching for, who mysteriously disappeared to embark on her own eventful journey. This is a story about vanished crafts and ancient customs, about violence, love, and friendship. Above all, it’s a story about change and about storytelling itself, full of vivid characters and surprising twists—an epic tale, as inexorable as time itself and as gripping as a classic adventure story.

Yu Hua
Yu Hua is one of China’s best-known writers. Born in 1960, he is the author of six novels, several collections of short stories and essays. He has also contributed op-ed pieces to The New York Times. His work has been translated into fifty languages. He has received many awards, including Italy’s Premio Grinzane Cavour for his novel To Live and France’s Prix Courrier International for his novel Brothers, which was also was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize. He lives in Beijing.