China Fiction

One of the most talented and creative authors working today, Neal Stephenson is renowned for his exceptional novels - works colossal in vision and mind-boggling in complexity. Exploring and blending a diversity of topics, including technology, economics, history, science, pop culture, and philosophy, his books are the products of a keen and adventurous intellect. Stephenson ponders a wealth of subjects, from movies and politics to David Foster Wallace and the Midwestern American College Town; and more.

At the core of this ancient strategy manual is the understanding that conflict is an inescapable part of human life. Since, as Sun Tzu teaches, aggression and response in kind can lead only to destruction, we must learn to work with conflict in a more profound and effective way. Crucial to this strategic vision is knowledge - especially self-knowledge - and a view of the whole that seeks to bring conflicting views into a larger perspective.

Francis Arrowsmith is a man without a country, a soldier-of-fortune in search of a war. An English orphan raised in France by exiled Jesuits, he hopes to make a quick pile out of his rare skills in building and operating artillery. Little does he know that when he joins a Portuguese expedition to aid the decadent and corrupt Ming dynasty in its fight against the Manchu invaders, he is embarking on a journey that will merge his destiny with the fate of China itself.

A woman wades into the waters of Morecambe Bay in a drunken bid to commit suicide. She finds herself instead saving the life of a young Chinese cockle picker, a survivor of a tragic mass drowning. Wen and Angie share neither language nor experience, but she agrees to let him stay with her and disappear. Within a short time their unlikely pairing blossoms into something darkly passionate.

From Shanghai before and during the Second World War to US occupied Tokyo, and, finally, to the Middle East in the early 1970s, Ian Buruma's masterful novel about the intoxicating power of collective fantasy follows three star-struck men driven to extraordinary acts by their devotion to the same legendary woman. A beautiful Japanese girl born in Manchuria, Yamaguchi Yoshiko is known as Ri Koran in Japan, Li Xianglan in China, and Shirley Yamaguchi in the US, and her past is a closely guarded secret.

In the 1970s, Peter Maas stunned the American public with Serpico. Now this best-selling author has created a brilliant fictional thriller that uncovers a new underworld of international crime—ruled by the Chinese. Y.K. Deng, the ruthless mastermind of an international heroin ring, is poised to shatter the Mafia with a daring maneuver: transfer all of the assets his crime syndicate’s to the United States in one shipment of pure heroin.

Ein Zukunftsthriller aus dem Jahre 2027. Packend erzählt von Stefan Kaminski...

When CIA officer Craig Norton glimpses an unexplainable object in the sky over Mongolia, he can’t quite believe it. Frankly, he isn’t sure Langley will either. Despite his misgivings, Craig reports the sighting in a cable to headquarters detailing the incident. Fast-forward fifteen years. Craig is still reeling from the report that tanked his career and his personal life. That fleeting moment on the Mongolian steppe made him a pariah at the Agency, and he still hasn’t recovered. At this point, he doubts he ever will.

El cartógrafo Rodrigo Silva se ve obligado a asistir al ahorcamiento público de su padre por la pérdida de un galeón a manos de los piratas ingleses. Rodrigo jura vengarse por esa gran injusticia, pero el destino le tiene preparada una sorpresa. Gracias a sus conocimientos en el arte de navegar y trazar cartas náuticas, acabará formando parte de uno de los planes más ambiciosos de Felipe II: la conquista de China.

In The White Mirror, Li Du, an imperial librarian and former exile in 18th-century China, is now an independent traveler. He is journeying with a trade caravan bound for Lhasa when a detour brings them to a valley hidden between mountain passes. On the icy planks of a wooden bridge, a monk sits in contemplation. Closer inspection reveals that the monk is dead, apparently of a self-inflicted wound. His robes are rent, revealing a strange symbol painted on his chest.

Trying to squeeze an entire history of Chinese civilization into a brief, one volume account is a formidable task, but one that has succeeded brilliantly here. Hilda Hookham has provided us with a concise story that, while not getting too entangled with personalities and cultural issues, manages to navigate the swirling passage of events that comprise over 3,000 years of Chinese political history.

As the Christmas decorating season approaches, Thyme & Seasons proprietor China Bayles feels overwhelmed. While she tries to balance her new roles of wife and step-mom with the demands of her thriving herbal shop, her business partner and best friend, Ruby, mysteriously disappears. Soon China's cantankerous mistletoe supplier Carl turns up dead. With Ruby missing and friends suspected of murder, China must investigate before tragedy strikes again.

Hundreds die in a fiery train crash in northern China. A cargo ship smuggling refugees is lost to calm seas off the Libyan coast. Entire villages in Ghana are abandoned overnight.

Set on the island of Okinawa today and during World War II, this deeply moving and evocative novel tells the entwined stories of two teenage girls - an American and an Okinawan - whose lives are connected across 70 years by the shared experience of both profound loss and renewal. And as these two stories unfold and intertwine, we see how war and American occupation have shaped and reshaped the lives of Okinawans.

In this 16th entry in Susan Wittig Albert’s long-running mystery series, China is finally on the verge of finding out the truth about her father’s death. But her reservations about letting her half-brother Miles hire her husband prove all too accurate when she discovers Miles has a hidden agenda.

Hundreds die in a fiery train crash in northern China. A cargo ship smuggling refugees is lost to calm seas off the Libyan coast. Entire villages in Ghana are abandoned overnight. Contracted by an apocalypse prepper group to investigate a series of seemingly disconnected global tragedies, a young medical investigative reporter, Angelique de l'Enfantine, uncovers a disturbing pattern to the tragedies. Are they harbingers of an impending biblical catastrophe?

Based on exhaustive research and set in the Chinese cradle of civilization, the Yellow River basin, Forgotten Tales of China is a sweeping saga of survival, sacrifice, indomitable perseverance, bravery, and betrayal. Starting 40,000 years ago with cave dwellers who communicated almost solely through sign language, this epic novel transports listeners through the millennium, culminating in China's Bronze Age, 1,600 BC, during the reign of a mad degenerate Xia king.

An American music icon is on a collision course with the world's two superpowers when trying to save a Chinese baby from death. Haunted by a troubled past and betrayed by the people closest to her, she is set to win against those determined to silence her.

Asian American private investigator Lydia Chin knows New York City's Chinatown, its people, and its ways as no outsider ever could. It's a city within a city, a rich melange of smells, sounds, dark shops, and close-knit families - a world all its own. And in all of Chinatown, there is no one like Lydia, who has a nose for trouble, a disapproving Chinese mother, and a partner named Bill Smith who's been living above a bar for 16 years. Hired to find some precious stolen porcelain, Lydia follows a trail of clues from highbrow art dealers into a world of Chinese gangs.

Raghu Mehta is a desperate man. His handicraft imports business has unexpectedly collapsed, cash is drying out quickly, his wife thinks he is a loser and society considers him irrelevant. Meanwhile, his closest friends and family all seem to be running flourishing businesses and living luxurious lives in the diamond capital of India. A trip to China to scout a new business offers a glimmer of hope.