Village Of Stone

by Xiaolu Guo
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'Reading it is rather like finding yourself in a dream: 'once upon a time...' People are going to like this book very much' Doris Lessing

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Synopsis

I see myself on a boat, steering far out to sea, to the seas of the Village Of Stone, and as the waves grow clearer in my memory, I find myself moving farther away from this enormous city, from these enormous buildings and crowds - Coral and her Frisbee-obsessed boyfriend Red live on the ground floor of a cramped, oppressive tower block in modern-day Beijing. The arrival of a mysterious package threatens to shatter an already fragile existence; and as the smell of the sea floods her home, Coral is transported back to a childhood dominated by solitude, fear and shame. Born on a boat during a storm, and orphaned soon after, Coral was raised by silent grandparents amongst the stern and superstitious fishermen of the Village Of Stone. Shunned from birth as a bringer of ill fortune, she was exposed to the malevolent, threatening forces of a closed-off society. At fifteen, she escaped to the big city and shut the door on the darkness of her past. As the narrative shifts between the forbidding sprawl of Beijing and the hypnotic rhythms of a tiny coastal village, our narrator struggles to navigate a path through painful and hidden memories of a time of hatred; a time spent helpless, cold and alone. But when an old, sick man appears on Coral's doorstep, the past and present shockingly converge, and she is forced to confront the secrets of her history in order to realise her dreams for the future. Beautifully poetic and lyrical, haunting yet infused with a quiet and gentle humour, Village Of Stone is a startling and bewitching novel about memory, loss, and the search for redemption, from one of contemporary China's freshest voices.

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