Four Treasures of the Sky: The compelling debut about identity and belonging in the 1880s American West

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Like the first domino falling, her parents disappear and her grandmother warns her that the same people who captured her parents would come for her too —urging her to run away to the city. I cannot get over how brilliant the prose is throughout, and just how vivid the story comes to life. Four Treasures of the Sky" by debut author Jenny Tinghi Zhang is a powerful, eye-opening work of historical fiction which highlights a little known chapter in American history. Heavy themes are being brought to light in Four Treasures of the Sky: kidnapping, abuse, xenophobia, sexual abuse etc . Born to a family of tapestry merchants, her happy childhood is interrupted when at the age of twelve her parents suddenly disappear.

Zhang’s transporting story of perseverance in the face of shocking injustice resonates across cultures, and also feels sadly relevant to today’s world. Zhang’s beautiful, limpid prose penetrates surfaces to illuminate the shadows or currents beneath without self-consciousness, the mark of excellent literary fiction…Brilliant. Her troubles begin with her name; Daiyu’s eponym is Lin Daiyu, a tragic figure of legend who dies spitting blood after the family of her beloved tricks him into marrying someone else. A revelation and a haunting, Four Treasures of the Sky is an instant and necessary classic, easily among the best novels of this decade. When I am kidnapped, I am thirteen and standing in the middle of the Zhifu fish market on Beach Road, watching a fleshy woman assemble whitefish the shape of spades into a pile.Brilliant and devastating, Four Treasures of the Sky tells the story of Daiyu, who is brought to America against her will and forced to hide who she is even as she grows into her true self. Discrimination still exists- louder in some countries/cities/towns than others but it unfortunately still rears its ugly face. Sweeping…[Zhang] manages to build in delicate moments of beauty…[Daiyu’s] defiant optimism in the face of what the reader knows are impossible dreams…gives her character strength and meaning. Aspects of the Chinese migration that you not always hear about: like kidnapping Chinese to be used/sold as labour in America; the abuse and injustice suffered my Chinese migrants after(and before!

In a sweeping adventure that spans China and the American West, Jenny Tinghui Zhang has crafted a thoughtful story of identity, love, and belonging.The protagonist has the same name as a tragic mythical heroine, and their “relationship” definitely adds to the story. This book is haunting , luscious and precise - it's historical fiction as we most want and need it to be . Four Treasures of the Sky isn’t easy to read but it’s easy to comprehend as one meant to be difficult. Held captive for more than a year, she is forced to learn English; smuggled inside a bucket of coal on a cargo ship to San Francisco; and sold into prostitution at 14. Based on true events, this novel examines the life of a young girl kidnapped from a Chinese fishing village and sold into prostitution in 19th-century San Francisco.