Four Treasures of the Sky, Jenny Tinghui Zhang
Four Treasures of the Sky, Jenny Tinghui Zhang
2 Rating(s)
List: $26.99 | Sale: $18.89
Club: $13.49

Four Treasures of the Sky
A Novel

Author: Jenny Tinghui Zhang

Narrator: Jenny Tinghui Zhang, Katharine Chin

Unabridged: 12 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/05/2022


Synopsis

“Narrator Katharine Chin’s outstanding performance will have listeners weeping as they hear Zhang’s debut novel, based on actual events.” – Library Journal (Starred Review)

"Reader Katharine Chin has a young, clear voice that captures Daiyu’s determination and spirit. Chinese names and phrases flow easily, and Chin voices the cast of characters with sensitivity. Absolutely first rate." - Booklist (starred review)

This program includes a bonus conversation between the author and editor.

A propulsive and dazzling debut novel set against the backdrop of the Chinese Exclusion Act, about a Chinese girl fighting to claim her place in the 1880s American West

Daiyu never wanted to be like the tragic heroine for whom she was named, revered for her beauty and cursed with heartbreak. But when she is kidnapped and forced across an ocean from China to America, Daiyu must relinquish the home and future she imagined for herself. Over the years that follow, she is forced to keep reinventing herself to survive. From a calligraphy school, to a San Francisco brothel, to a shop tucked into the Idaho mountains, we follow Daiyu on a desperate quest to outrun the tragedy that chases her. As anti-Chinese sentiment sweeps across the country in a wave of unimaginable violence, Daiyu must draw on each of the selves she has been—including the ones she most wants to leave behind—in order to finally claim her own name and story.

At once a literary tour de force and a groundbreaking work of historical fiction, Four Treasures of the Sky announces Jenny Tinghui Zhang as an indelible new voice. Steeped in untold history and Chinese folklore, this novel is a spellbinding feat.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books

"Jenny Tinghui Zhang uses her considerable talents to illuminate the shocking injustices the Chinese in this country suffered in the 1800s, and in doing so, makes us stop and consider how much of that cruelty and injustice survive to this day. Four Treasures of the Sky is an engulfing, bighearted, and heartbreaking novel."—Ann Patchett

“In a sweeping adventure that spans China and the American West, Jenny Tinghui Zhang has crafted a thoughtful story of identity, love, and belonging.”—C Pam Zhang, author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold

“Brilliant and devastating, Four Treasures of the Sky tells the story of Daiyu, who is brought to America against her will and forced to hide who she is even as she grows into her true self. Weaving together myth and history, Zhang’s work is both timeless and utterly necessary right now.”—Anna North, New York Times bestselling author of Outlawed

About Jenny Tinghui Zhang

Jenny Tinghui Zhang is the author of the novels Superfan and Four Treasures of the Sky, named Idaho Book of the Year and short and longlisted for the Chautauqua Prize, the Dublin Literary Award, the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Her work has appeared in The Cut, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, Texas Highways, and elsewhere. She is a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Honoree and has received support from Yaddo, Kundiman, VONA/Voices, Tin House, and the University of Wyoming, where she completed her MFA.


Reviews

Goodreads review by jessica

this story is work of art. its a stunning piece of calligraphy, every word as intentional as a brushstroke, every scene as the impactful as the pressure of a hand, resulting in page after page of valuable meaning. and, after reading the authors note at the end, im even more in awe. JTZs father came......more

‘I am not afraid of death. I am afraid of no longer living.’ The 19th century American west has been mined for as many stories as it was gold and silver. The stories typically call to mind (white) men in heroic gun fights that end in dust and blood and glory, though the last few years have seen some......more

When I read historical fiction I want to come away learning something about the times it reflects. I want to come away with an emotional connection to the characters who represent those who lived then and I always hope for beautiful writing that will take me to that time and place. This debut novel......more

I don’t know why I still get shocked by the lack of humanity humans show over the past, the present, No doubt the future. Daiyu, 11, has been abandoned. Her parents taken. Her grandmother sends her to city of Zhifu, China in order to be “safe”. The story begins in China in 1882. Safety is found in a......more


Awards

  • Library Journal Best Books of the Year
  • Shelf Awareness Best Books of the Year
  • New York Times Book Review Notable Books of the Year