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Liepman Literary Agency
Marc Koralnik
Original language
Chamorro

THE LAST QUARTER OF THE MOON

Chi Zijian

In this sweeping epic, full of love and loss, a woman from one of the last remote reindeer-herding tribes of northeastern China tells the story of her family and the last century of her country's history.
Chi Zijian, a three-time winner of Lu Xun Literary Award, was born in 1964 in Mohe, the city on China's northern border. Mohe is often called the “North Pole” village in China. She grew up listening to folk tales and ghost stories around the fire, and developed a fondness for and respect of nature early on. She started writing in high school, and had her first story published in Northern Literature magazine when she was in college. In 2008, Chi won Mao Dun Literary Award, the highest honor for the novelist in China, with THE LAST QUARTER OF THE MOON (???????).

This title is a first-person narrative told from the point of view of an aging Evenki woman in the last years of the 20th century. She chooses to stay behind when her tribe abandons the forested mountains of Northeast China for “civilized” life among town dwellers, where their beloved reindeer will be cooped up like cattle. This novel is inspired by the life of the last Evenki woman chieftain and Chi's travels in Australia and Ireland.

At once a lament for the loss of tribal tradition and a meditation on the destructive power of modernization, THE LAST QUARTER OF THE MOON is One Hundred Years of Solitude re-imagined for Northeast China and told from the female perspective. Exuberantly researched and written in a direct and cinematic style with a touch magic realism, this novel will appeal to readers of Stef Penney, Isabel Allende, and Khaled Hosseini. It also invites comparison to Yu Hua's TO LIVE and Alai's RED POPPIES.
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Published 2023-05-11 by October Arts & Literature

Comments

Dulnyok

Vintage

"An atmospheric modern folk-tale, the saga of the Evenki clan of Inner Mongolia – nomadic reindeer herders whose traditional life alongside the Argun river endured unchanged for centuries... This is a fitting tribute to the Evenki by a writer of rare talent."

"Chi Zijian's beautifully realised novel offers a detailed portrait of a way of life hard to imagine today It was surely no easy task to make this ancient, wise narrator sound convincing in English. Bruce Humes's skilful translation is pitch-perfect."

"Masterfully told, with simplicity and empathy, in a direct and credible voice that not only feels unlike a translation, but unlike a fiction at all."

"Chi has an extraordinary gift for storytelling and her steely narrator is a true heroine, surviving war and encroaching modernity. Simply magnificent."

"This is a beautifully simple book offering a detailed yet unromantic picture ... The setting is spectacularly rendered and this idyllic corner of China is as prominent as any other character in the book"

Picquier

Fullon

Hakusuisha

This epic novel about the nomadic Evenki clan in northern China is an enthralling look at a culture in decline Read more...

Corbaccio

Dedalus

House of Books

Aula