Historical Fiction Asia

Ngày xửa ngày xưa, có người tên Lộc Tục, lấy hiệu là Kinh Dương Vương, là thủ lĩnh ở vùng Lĩnh Nam. Kinh Dương Vương có sức khỏe hơn người, còn có biệt tài là đi lại ở dưới nước giống như là đi lại trên cạn vậy. Vào một ngày, Kinh Dương Vương đến hồ Động Đình dạo chơi, vô tình gặp được Long Nữ vốn là con gái của Long Vương, nảy sinh tình cảm, họ trở thành vợ thành chồng, không lâu sau thì sinh ra một người con trai và đặt tên đứa bé ấy là Sùng Lâm.

From two-time Newbery Medalist and living legend Lois Lowry comes a moving account of the lives lost in two of WWII's most infamous events: Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima.

オーディオブック「坂本龍馬」全拾巻セット其ノ壱～其ノ拾まで、各巻それぞれ、

Unfolding on the vast grasslands of the steppes of Kazakhstan before its independence from the USSR, this haunting novel limns the struggles of the world through the eyes of Nasyr, a simple fisherman and village elder, and his resolute son, Kakharman. Both father and son confront the terrible future that is coming to the poisoned Aral Sea.

In Tienkuo: The Heavenly Kingdom, author Li Bo has drawn on his knowledge of East Asian civilization to transport listeners to 19th-century China. There a massive civil war is tearing the Qing dynasty apart.

Where once new ideas and beliefs were accepted, now the country's military dictator, the Shogun, is shutting his country down to any outside influences. Father Joaquim Martinez, who left Portugal to make Hizen Province, Japan, his home, has been quietly tending to the lives of his villagers, but everything is about to be thrown into turmoil, as the Shogun has outlawed Martinez's beliefs. Those who won't recant or accept banishment, face a death sentence.

Though Japan has been devastated by a century of civil war, Risuko just wants to climb trees. Growing up far from the battlefields and court intrigues, the fatherless girl finds herself pulled into a plot that may reunite Japan - or may destroy it. She is torn from her home and what is left of her family, but finds new friends at a school that may not be what it seems. Magical but historical, Risuko follows her along the first dangerous steps to discovering who she truly is.

Wonder, mysticism, heartache, and joy are the stones that set the path to one girl's journey as her destiny unfolds. In the village of Huanan in medieval China, the deity that rules is the Great Huli Jing. Though 12-year-old Li Jing's name is a different character entirely from the Huli Jing, the sound is close enough to provide constant teasing - but maybe is also a source of greater destiny and power. Jing's life isn't easy....

Brushstrokes in Time, written by Sylvia Vetta, is a memoir of fictional Chinese artist, Little Winter, written for her American daughter. It takes the story of Communist China beyond the death of Mao and for the first time in fiction shows the birth of the radical art movement, The Stars, in 1979. Her haunting love story connects us to this time of hope for freedom of expression in China, and to a man frustrated by "being kept in small shoes".

Freedom Sex and a Meat Cleaver is a young man’s quest for personal freedom and self-discovery. Pierce Colter falls in love with the “Land of Smiles” while in the US Air Force and stationed at the Royal Thai Airbase in Korat, Thailand. When his tour of duty ends in 1974, he flies to Los Angeles, gets a new passport and travel visa, then heads straight back to Thailand. He's a young, wild, and free American guy craving adventure in Southeast Asia.

In this incredible true story, Judy, the heroine of the book narrates her own version of her life. Her amazing life started precariously as a young pup living rough on the streets of Shanghai where any food and comfort was in short supply. She had the great good fortune to be rescued from the streets by a young Chinese girl called Lee Ming and a few days later a chance meeting with some British sailors visiting her dog pound changed her life for ever.

After the furious battles around Dak To and the horrific fight for Hill 875, Youth in Asia is a new novella of young Americans trapped in the jungles of Vietnam's Central Highlands in a war they did not understand. Youth In Asia relives the friendships, loyalties and betrayals of young men in combat, and for those that survive, the memories they carried home.

Not all assassins wear black. Some come wearing silk. A young Takeda warrior meets a servant who is much more than she seems. And teaches him what a warrior truly can be. This is the second of six Kunoichi Companion Tales, prequel stories to David Kudler's historical novel Risuko: A Kunoichi Tale.

Lady Mochizuki Chiyome is mired in grief. Recently widowed by Japan's endless civil war, she has become tired of mourning, tired of wearing the white robes that are the traditional Japanese garb of grief. On the road, she encounters two young women who open her eyes to a whole new purpose in life -- and a new way to end Japan's century of bloodshed.

Mochizuki Chiyome wants someone dead...and someone wants to serve her. At a banquet to celebrate a new alliance, Chiyome contemplates murder, and discovers a new servant.

The three tales in this audiobook are adapted from stories told by the peasants in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. They are drawn from some books I found in shops when I visited the former USSR in 1988 as part of a citizen diplomacy group. I was intrigued by these folktales, since my paternal grandmother lived for some time in Odessa in the Ukraine. Also, I found these stories share a common theme - the poor peasant is able to succeed despite obstacles against an unfair ruler.