Description
Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2016
''One of China''s greatest living authors and fiercest satirists'' Guardian
In the ninety-ninth district of a sprawling labour camp, the Author, Musician, Scholar, Theologian and Technician - and hundreds just like them - are undergoing Re-education, to restore their revolutionary zeal and credentials. In charge of this process is the Child, who delights in draconian rules, monitoring behaviour and confiscating treasured books.
But when bad weather arrives, followed by the three bitter years', the intellectuals are abandoned by the regime and left on their own to survive. Divided into four narratives, The Four Books tells the story of the Great Famine, one of China's most devastating and controversial periods.
WINNER OF THE FRANZ KAFKA PRIZE 2014
NOMINATED FOR CZECH AWARD MAGNESIA LITERA 2014
HUA ZHONG WORLD CHINESE LITERATURE PRIZE 2013
Trade Review
Arch and playful... [Yan Lianke] deploys offbeat humour, anarchic set pieces and surreal imagery to shed new light on dark episodes from modern Chinese history... A brave, brilliant novel -- David Evans * Financial Times *
It’s a Chinese novel hailed across the planet as a masterpiece, and I’m normally the first to resist such an imposition before I’ve even opened the thing – but for once, the hype doesn’t go far enough... a devastating, brilliant slice of living history -- Kate Saunders * The Times *
No other writer in today's China has so consistently explored, dissected and mocked the past six and a half decades of Chinese communist rule... it is an extraordinary novel -- Isobel Hilton * Observer *
One of the masters of modern Chinese literature -- Jung Chang
Stark, powerful and compelling... A privilege * Independent *
