The Last Quarter of the Moon

A long-time confidante of the rain and snow, I am ninety years old. The rain and snow have weathered me, and I too have weathered them'.At the end of the twentieth-century an old woman sits among the birch trees and thinks back over her life, her loves, and the joys and tragedies that have befallen her family and her people. She is a member of the Evenki tribe who wander the remote forests of north-eastern China with their herds of reindeer, living in close sympathy with nature at its most beautiful and cruel.An idyllic childhood playing by the river ends with her father's death and the growing realisation that her mother's and uncle's relationship is not as simple as she thought. Then, in the 1930s, the intimate, secluded world of the tribe is shattered when the Japanese army invades China. The Evenki cannot avoid being pulled into the brutal conflict which marks the first step towards the end of their isolation...In The Last Quarter of the Moon, prize-winning novelist Chi Zijian, creates a dazzling epic about an extraordinary woman bearing witness not just to the stories of her tribe but also to the transformation of China.

About the author

Keen to experience socialism with Chinese characteristics back in the 1980s, Bruce Humes first took a detour to Taipei and Hong Kong but went on to reside in Shanghai, Kunming and Shenzhen. He has translated three contemporary novels from the Chinese: The Last Quarter of the Moon (Chi Zijian), Shanghai Baby (Wei Hui), and Confessions of a Jade Lord (Alat Asem). Most recently he has concentrated on Tibetan, Uyghur and Mongol stories.

Product details

• Authors: Zijian Chi, CHI ZIJIAN, Chi Zijian, Zijian Chi
• Assisted by: Bruce Humes (Translation), Humes Bruce (Translation)
• Publisher: Vintage UK
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 31.01.2014
• EAN: 9780099555650
• ISBN: 978-0-09-955565-0
• No. of pages: 320
• Dimensions: 129 mm x 198 mm x 20 mm
• Series: VINTAGE BOOKS
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; China, FICTION / Sagas, Historical fiction, FICTION / Literary, FICTION / Cultural Heritage, 20th Century, Fiction in translation, FICTION / Small Town & Rural, Narrative theme: Death, grief, loss, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, Narrative theme: Sense of place, Generational sagas, Narrative theme: Environmental issues, Narrative theme: Love and relationships, Northeast China