Under Fishbone Clouds by Sam Meekings

Under Fishbone Clouds

Sam Meekings

This beautiful, lyrically-written novel is a deep love story, intense historical reflection, and absorbing family saga with traditional mythological tales interwoven along the way. The often intensely sad events of Yuying and Jinyi’s lives in China's tumultuous years between 1942 and 2000 are heart-breakingly told and although this is often a depressing story it captures the impact a country’s political history has on an ordinary couple’s lives.

Extract
And if it does not seem possible to see between the myths, the heroes, the propaganda, the hindsight and the tall tales, then do not panic: this is the way the house of history is built, and you are already locked inside. The door has no key, and what you thought windows are simply finely drawn pictures, blurred from the touch of too many fingers.
Parallels
  • Brothers by Yu Hua
  • Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
  • The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan