|
|
|
 Hui Gui, a Chinese story
Elsie Sze
$16.95 US | $19.95 CDN
Book: Paperback | 5.5 x 8.5 in | 290 pages
ISBN-10: 0973721006 | ISBN-13: 978-0973721003
Canada: September, 2005 | US: January, 2006
Where to buy? » |
|
|
Synopsis
Hui Gui, "returning home" in Chinese, has come to designate the British handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, the pivotal event that launches this moving and poignant epic novel of twentieth century China and Hong Kong. Hui Gui transports the reader through time and place with the memorable story of Tak Sing growing up in war-torn China of the thirties and forties and leaving the mainland for Hong Kong as a refugee following the Communist victory in 1949. Years later, as the clock ticks towards the handover, Tak Sing's daughter Serena recalls her family's stories of love and loss, courage and survival. In simple, poetic prose, Elsie Sze spins a mesmerizing tale of a homecoming and extols the triumph of the spirit over the inevitabilities of the human predicament.
"I want you to know about my past, because it is also your past - my roots are your roots. I want you to know my father and mother, the love they gave to me, and through me to you. I want to share the memories of my childhood with you. I want you to have a sense of the history that has shaped China in our lifetimes, the blood and tears shed by her people, the sacrifices they made in pursuit of political and personal ideals, and the wars that took away much that I held dear. I have been a part of it all. My daughter, you too are a part of it all."
- from Hui Gui, a Chinese story
Papa and I sat in front of the graves for a long while, until darkness shrouded the surrounding hills and fields, and all we could hear were the buzz of cicadas on the trees and the occasional barking of dogs in the village, and all we could see were the flickers of fireflies around the dark forms of the tombstones under the starless night.
"I just want to sit here a little longer, Serena, for I don't know when I'll come this way again," Papa said in a heavy voice.
"'Tis fine, Papa. 'Tis fine. I will sit here with you for as long as you wish."
- from Hui Gui, a Chinese story
Praise for Hui Gui
"I think that what makes this moving novel so extraordinary is the author's profound understanding of how events shape and direct our lives, and how we are all part of an ongoing process. Elsie Sze grasps what History is made of: Stories. And she tells her stories beautifully."
- Isabel Huggan, winner of the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary
Non-Fiction for her book Belonging, Home Away from Home
"With grace and sensitivity, Elsie Sze shapes the poignant story of one family's struggles and convictions amidst the maelstrom of Chinese political history. Hui Gui is a moving and memorable portrait of dignity, sacrifice and enduring love."
- Ania Szado, author of Beginning of Was
"…Hui Gui is an elegy for the preceding generations, written with love and respect for history’s unblemished victims…a timely novel, reconnecting a city obsessed with the present with its tumultuous past, the best of its cultural heritage, and the ties of love and duty that bind families and friends."
- South China Morning Post, Hong Kong
November 20, 2005
"Riveting, entertaining and even educational, the novel...overflows with merit.... A better novel about Hong Kong and its complex relationship with the Chinese mainland would be difficult to imagine." Click Here For Full Review.
- Cairns Media Magazine
January 29, 2007
Where to buy?
Hui Gui is available in select bookstores in Canada and Hong Kong, and in major online bookstores in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia.
Distributed in Canada by
BTS Publishing House
P.O. Box 962, Station B
Willowdale, Ontario M2K 2T6
Tel: 416-756-2181
Fax: 416-756-3143
|
|
Distributed in the U.S. by
APG Sales and Fulfillment
7344 Cockrill Bent Blvd.
Nashville, TN 37209
U.S.A.
Tel: 1-800-327-5113
Fax: 1-800-510-3650 |
Distributed in Hong Kong by
Chameleon Press Ltd.
23/F, Success Commercial Building
245-251 Hennessy Road
Wanchai, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 / 2511-4261
Fax: 2507-3335
E-mail: publisher@chameleonpress.com |
|
|
|
