A review by tinybiblio
A Single Swallow by Zhang Ling
4.0
My Review:⭐️⭐⭐️⭐️/ 5 stars
I have not seen this featured around #bookstagram much - it a English translation from a book that Ling Zhang wrote in 2017. It is a slower read, but a beautiful and epic story about 3 men whose lives intertwined at one point in their lives in 1945 after Japan surrendered. Pastor Billy, soldier Ian Ferguson, and local Chinese soldier Liu Zhaohu. They are all linked by 1 woman (Ah Yan, name meaning Swallow) that they were all in love with at one point. After the war, they made a pact for their souls to always visit each other at the same spot on the same day every year. The format is a journal/diary-like voice from each man’s perspective on their time in China and how they came to be there, how they fell for Ah Yeh, and what happened to them after the war. The pace is on the slower slide, but it is an absolutely beautiful story. Ah Yan’s story is truly heartbreaking with all that she had to deal with simply because she was a woman during that time. There was a chapter in the middle that had a military dog involved and I was sobbing like a child by the end of it. This reminded me of the Clockmaker’s Daughter in terms of style and pace. Highly recommend if you want a more epic story during WWII, but of the Allied forces in China, fighting against Japan.
Thank you @netgalley and @amazoncrossing for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review! It is out on Sept 15!
I have not seen this featured around #bookstagram much - it a English translation from a book that Ling Zhang wrote in 2017. It is a slower read, but a beautiful and epic story about 3 men whose lives intertwined at one point in their lives in 1945 after Japan surrendered. Pastor Billy, soldier Ian Ferguson, and local Chinese soldier Liu Zhaohu. They are all linked by 1 woman (Ah Yan, name meaning Swallow) that they were all in love with at one point. After the war, they made a pact for their souls to always visit each other at the same spot on the same day every year. The format is a journal/diary-like voice from each man’s perspective on their time in China and how they came to be there, how they fell for Ah Yeh, and what happened to them after the war. The pace is on the slower slide, but it is an absolutely beautiful story. Ah Yan’s story is truly heartbreaking with all that she had to deal with simply because she was a woman during that time. There was a chapter in the middle that had a military dog involved and I was sobbing like a child by the end of it. This reminded me of the Clockmaker’s Daughter in terms of style and pace. Highly recommend if you want a more epic story during WWII, but of the Allied forces in China, fighting against Japan.
Thank you @netgalley and @amazoncrossing for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review! It is out on Sept 15!