A thin, emotional novel about family and forgiveness set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing China during the Cultural Revolution. Yitian and Hanwen were inseparable from childhood; together they secretly read books and dreamed of entering the same university. But after the exams their paths tragically diverged. A natural humanities student, Yitian—by the will of chance and his older brother—entered the mathematics faculty and later became a professor at an American college. Hanwen, who failed her exams, was never able to realize her potential. She became the wife of a Chinese official, resigning herself to the life of a wealthy housewife. Years later, when their paths cross again in China, the characters set out to search for Yitian’s missing father, plunging deeply into the past—of their country, their families, and themselves.
The audiobook version of this dramatic story about the price of dreams and returning home was masterfully and movingly performed by Aleksey Bagdasarov.
The novel made it into the longlist of the Center for Fiction’s 2022 First Novel Prize as one of the best literary debuts of the year.