Synopsis
If it runs in the family, you better get moving.
Modern China moves fast, leaving its people trailing behind. The mirage of a picture-perfect home compels some to gamble away the family house, while others have to live with debts of a shameful past. Nevertheless, when something inevitably cracks, it’s always the women who are left to pick up the pieces.
Yao Emei shines a brutally honest light on the crumbling foundations of the Chinese family unit with scalpel-sharp precision. In these four short stories, she sensitively depicts the struggle to escape a vicious cycle of abuse where no one comes out looking good.
To keep things simple, don’t ask Dr Feng’s wife about what her husband’s got up to lately, or Elder Sister about where her son’s gone. Most importantly, beware the enigmatic Gran trading lives on the maternity ward.
Come inside – or stare through the window – at your peril: after all, what’s a closet without its skeletons?
About the author
Yao Emei is a magazine editor and a member of the China Writers Association. First published in 1999, she is the author of several novels, including Higher than the Sky and The Truth, as well as a collection of novellas, Picking Soybeans.
Translators: Honey Watson, Martin Ward, Olivia Milburn, Will Spence
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Sinoist Books is a UK-based independent press that publishes only the best in translated Chinese literature and contemporary fiction.
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