A Single Swallow

Description

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

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.

"[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 "Few writers could bring a story about China and other nations together as seamlessly as Zhang Ling. I would suggest it is her merit as an author, and it is the value of her novels." -Mo Yan, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature "[Zhang Ling] tackles a work of fiction as if it were fact...with a profound respect for historical truth as it impacts the real world, she successfully creates characters and stories that are both vivid and moving." -Shenzhen and Hong Kong Book Review "Zhang Ling's concern for war and disaster has remained constant throughout the years as she delves deeply into human strength and tenacity in the face of extremely adverse situations." -Beijing News Book Review Weekly "[In this novel] we see not only the cruelty of war but also humans wrestling with fate...the novel blends the harsh reality of war seamlessly into the daily lives of the common people, weaving human destiny into the course of the war...A Single Swallow puts the novelist's ability and talent on full display." -Shanghai Wenhui Daily