About A Single Swallow
Hardcover : 291 pages
Publisher : Amazon Crossing (October 1, 2020)
The eagerly awaited English translation of award-winning author Zhang Ling’s epic and intimate novel about the devastation of war, forgiveness, redemption, and the enduring power of love.
On the day of the historic 1945 Jewel Voice Broadcast—in which Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender to the Allied forces, bringing an end to World War II—three men, flush with jubilation, made a pact. After their deaths, each year on the anniversary of the broadcast, their souls would return to the Chinese village of their younger days. It’s where they had fought—and survived—a war that shook the world and changed their own lives in unimaginable ways. Now, seventy years later, the pledge is being fulfilled by American missionary Pastor Billy, brash gunner’s mate Ian Ferguson, and local soldier Liu Zhaohu.
All that’s missing is Ah Yan—also known as Swallow—the girl each man loved, each in his own profound way.
As they unravel their personal stories of the war, and of the woman who touched them so deeply during that unforgiving time, the story of Ah Yan’s life begins to take shape, woven into view by their memories. A woman who had suffered unspeakable atrocities, and yet found the grace and dignity to survive, she’d been the one to bring them together. And it is her spark of humanity, still burning brightly, that gives these ghosts of the past the courage to look back on everything they endured and remember the woman they lost.
“[A] unique premise of ghostly rendezvous among soldiers, combined with first loves for all three men…Clever use of newspaper accounts, military reports, and letters to loved ones advance the plot and complement the dialogue effectively and interestingly…superb…highly recommended.” —Historical Novel Society
“I am in awe of Zhang Ling’s literary talent. Truly extraordinary. In her stories, readers have the chance to explore and gain a great understanding of not only the Chinese mind-set but also the heart and soul.” —Anchee Min, bestselling author of Red Azalea
Purchase Links
Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble
About Zhang Ling
Zhang Ling is the award-winning author of nine novels and numerous collections of novellas and short stories. Born in China, she moved to Canada in 1986. In the mid-1990s, she began to write and publish fiction in Chinese while working as a clinical audiologist. Since then she has won the Chinese Media Literature Award for Author of the Year, the Grand Prize of Overseas Chinese Literary Award, and Taiwan’s Open Book Award. Among Zhang Ling’s work are Gold Mountain Blues and Aftershock, adapted into China’s first IMAX movie with unprecedented box-office success at the time.
Instagram tour:
Monday, December 7th: @wherethereadergrows
Tuesday, December 8th: @hotcocoareads
Wednesday, December 9th: @owlslittlelibrary
Thursday, December 10th: @eviebookish
Saturday, December 12th: @laceybooklovers
Sunday, December 13th: @nurse_bookie
Monday, December 14th: @hothanjama_
Monday, December 14th: @welovebigbooksandwecannotlie
Tuesday, December 15th: @beritaudiokilledthebookmark
Tuesday, December 15th: @somekindofalibrary
Wednesday, December 16th: @megsbookclub
Thursday, December 17th: @never_withouta_book
Thursday, December 17th: @readwithneleh
Friday, December 18th: @tbretc
Saturday, December 19th: @downtogetthefictionon
Sunday, December 20th: @lifeinlit
Monday, December 21st: @blissandbooks
Wednesday, December 23rd: @remarkablylisa
Monday, December 28th: @love.books.and.coffee