Search results for ""Author Peter Ho""

Longlisted for the Man Booker PrizeA Richard & Judy Book Club choice'A beautiful, ambitious novel . . . Emotionally resonant and perfectly rendered, I believed in every character, every sheep, every last blade of grass.' - Ann PatchettIn 1944, a German Jewish refugee is sent to Wales to interview Rudolf Hess; in Snowdonia, a seventeen-year-old girl, the daughter of a fiercely nationalistic shepherd, dreams of the bright lights of an English city; and in a nearby POW camp, a German soldier struggles to reconcile his surrender with his sense of honour. As their lives intersect, all three will come to question where they belong and where their loyalties lie. Peter Ho Davies's thought-provoking and profoundly moving first novel traces a perilous wartime romance as it explores the bonds of love and duty that hold us to family, country, and ultimately our fellow man. Vividly rooted in history and landscape, THE WELSH GIRL reminds us anew of the pervasive presence of the past, and the startling intimacy of the foreign.

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Ah Ling: son of a prostitute and a white 'ghost', dispatched from Hong Kong as a boy to make his way alone in 1860s California. Anna May Wong: the first Chinese film star in Hollywood, forbidden to kiss a white man on screen. Vincent Chin: killed by a pair of Detroit auto workers in 1982 simply for looking Japanese.John Ling Smith: a half-Chinese writer visiting China for the first time, to adopt a baby girl.Inspired by three figures who lived at pivotal moments in Chinese-American history, and drawing on his own mixed-race experience, Peter Ho Davies plunges us into what it is like to feel, and be treated, like a foreigner in the country you call home.Ranging from the mouth of the Pearl River to the land of golden opportunity, this remarkable novel spans 150 years to tell a tale of familial bonds denied and fragmented, of tenacity and pride, of prejudice and the universal need to belong.

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'There are some stories that require as much courage to write as they do art. Peter Ho Davies's achingly honest, searingly comic portrait of fatherhood is just such a story . . . The world needs more stories like this one, more of this kind of courage, more of this kind of love.' - Sigrid Nunez, National Book Award-winning author of The FriendWhen does sorrow turn to shame? When does love become labour? When does chance become choice? And when does fact become fiction?A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself traces the complex consequences of one of the most personal yet public, intimate yet political, experiences a family can have: to have a child, and conversely, the decision not to have a child. A woman's first pregnancy is interrupted by test results at once catastrophic and uncertain, leaving her and her husband, a writer, reeling. A second pregnancy ends in a fraught birth, a beloved child, the purgatory of further tests - and questions that reverberate down the years.This spare, supple narrative chronicles the flux of parenthood, marriage, and the day-to-day practice of loving someone. As challenging as it is vulnerable, as furious as it is tender, as touching as it is darkly comic, Peter Ho Davies's new novel is an unprecedented depiction of fatherhood.

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Lee Kuan Yew once described the opportunity to remake Singapore as 'a chance of a lifetime'. This book explores Lee's pivotal role in Singapore's urban development during his years as prime minister from 1959 to 1990. A Chance of a Lifetime recognizes Lee's achievements from the standpoint of Singapore's 50th anniversary of independence and looks forward to challenges that the city-state might encounter over the next 50 years. The book is broken up into the four main components of Singapore's urban development: planning, housing, greening and water management. Each of these factors has been key in helping create modern Singapore. There is also a chapter that discusses the transformational challenges for Singapore, and the world, over the next 50 years. Singapore's small land size and lack of hinterland meant that it had to strategize to solve issues that other countries are only starting to face now, making Singapore a leader in areas such as vertical greenery and water reclamation. Featuring the Centre for Liveable Cities 2012 interview with Lee and rarely seen archival images of Singapore's transformation from mudflat to metropolis, A Chance of a Lifetime opens with an introduction by former president S R Nathan and closes with an epilogue by Ambassador Tommy Koh.

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The sovereign status of Taiwan - or the Republic of China - has been a source of instability in the Asia-Pacific region for much of the last 70 years. While Taiwan aspires to be an independent and democratic nation, the communist-led People’s Republic of China sees it as a breakaway province. With Beijing flexing its muscles in recent years amid rising tensions between China and the US, the potential for a military flashpoint along the narrow Taiwan Strait cannot be overstated.The strategy of the Republic of China Armed Forces is to present Beijing with a credible deterrent, and should this fail, defend against a People’s Liberation Army attack and possible invasion. The Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) is charged with the defence of airspace over and around Taiwan and enabling military operations in land and sea domains. If necessary, it could also take the battle into China as part of a multi-pronged offensive effort.While the ROCAF is relatively well-equipped and trained, attempts to modernise have been hit by political and fiscal challenges. The ROCAF has made some headway with mid-life upgrades for the majority of its more than 20-year-old fighter fleet and will receive a much-needed boost with the introduction of F-16C/D Block 70s in the coming years. However, it still lacks many force-multiplier capabilities such as aerial refuelling and electronic warfare. Amid qualitative and quantitative improvements to the PLA air combat fleets, the military balance across the Taiwan Strait continues to tip towards Mainland China.This book provides a comprehensive study of Taiwan’s air force with in-depth analysis backed by high-quality images. It examines ROCAF combat capabilities today, its aircraft fleet, and what the future holds for the air arm.

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The fifteenth volume in the Art of series takes an expansive view of revision-on the page and in life In The Art of Revision: The Last Word, Peter Ho Davies takes up an often discussed yet frequently misunderstood subject. He begins by addressing the invisibility of revision-even though it's an essential part of the writing process, readers typically only see a final draft, leaving the practice shrouded in mystery. To combat this, Davies pulls examples from his novels The Welsh Girl and The Fortunes, as well as from the work of other writers, including Flannery O'Connor, Carmen Machado, and Raymond Carver, shedding light on this slippery subject. Davies also looks beyond literature to work that has been adapted or rewritten, such as books made into films, stories rewritten by another author, and the practice of retconning in comics and film. In an affecting frame story, Davies recounts the story of a violent encounter in his youth, which he then retells over the years, culminating in a final telling at the funeral of his father. In this way, the book arrives at an exhilarating mode of thinking about revision-that it is the writer who must change, as well as the writing. The result is a book that is as useful as it is moving, one that asks writers to reflect upon themselves and their writing.

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Ah Ling: son of a prostitute and a white 'ghost', dispatched from Hong Kong as a boy to make his way alone in 1860s California. Anna Mae Wong: the first Chinese film star in Hollywood, forbidden to kiss a white man on screen. Vincent Chin: killed by a pair of Detroit auto workers in 1982 simply for looking Japanese.John Ling Smith: a half-Chinese writer visiting China for the first time, to adopt a baby girl.Inspired by three figures who lived at pivotal moments in Chinese-American history, and drawing on his own mixed-race experience, Peter Ho Davies plunges us into what it is like to feel, and be treated, like a foreigner in the country you call home.Ranging from the mouth of the Pearl River to the land of golden opportunity, this remarkable novel spans 150 years to tell a tale of familial bonds denied and fragmented, of tenacity and pride, of prejudice and the universal need to belong.

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'There are some stories that require as much courage to write as they do art. Peter Ho Davies's achingly honest, searingly comic portrait of fatherhood is just such a story . . . The world needs more stories like this one, more of this kind of courage, more of this kind of love.' - Sigrid Nunez, National Book Award-winning author of The FriendWhen does sorrow turn to shame? When does love become labour? When does chance become choice? And when does fact become fiction?A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself traces the complex consequences of one of the most personal yet public, intimate yet political, experiences a family can have: to have a child, and conversely, the decision not to have a child. A woman's first pregnancy is interrupted by test results at once catastrophic and uncertain, leaving her and her husband, a writer, reeling. A second pregnancy ends in a fraught birth, a beloved child, the purgatory of further tests - and questions that reverberate down the years.This spare, supple narrative chronicles the flux of parenthood, marriage, and the day-to-day practice of loving someone. As challenging as it is vulnerable, as furious as it is tender, as touching as it is darkly comic, Peter Ho Davies's new novel is an unprecedented depiction of fatherhood.

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In this book a multi-disciplinary team of experts from around the world studies the environmental challenge posed by China’s phenomenal economic growth. An exploration of the environmental challenge posed by China’s phenomenal economic growth. Written by a multi-disciplinary team of experts from around the world. Argues that China’s development poses the greatest ever challenge for the modern world in terms of speed, size and resource scarcity. Discusses issues such as cleaner production, green car technology, resettlement resulting from dam building, and biotechnology. Moves beyond the dichotomy between alarmist, radical views and moderate notions of incremental change.

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