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While it's great to hear the venerable UBC Creative Writing department will be getting an infusion of major dough from Penguin Random House, commencing in 2014, the upstart SFU Writers Studio is the hotbed on the rise. Taiwanese-born Janie Chang is their latest SFU grad to make a major splash, drawing on 36 generations of her families' recorded genealogy for her debut novel Three Souls (HarperCollins $19.99). The main character is the ghost of Leiyin who was captivated by a left-wing poet as a teenager during Chinese civil strife in the 1930s. Denied entrance to the afterlife, she must reconcile her three souls: her scholarly yang soul, her romantic yin soul and her wise hun soul. 9781443423908
Her second novel, Dragon Springs Road (HarperCollins, 2017), again draws on her family history for inspiration. Set in early twentieth century Shanghai where an ancient imperial dynasty collapses, a new government struggles to coalesce, and two girls - one a Eurasian orphan, the other a daughter of privilege - are bound together in a friendship that will be tested by duty, honour and love.
The Library of Legends (HarperCollins, 2020), Chang's third title, is set in China in 1937 as Japan begins bombing the city of Nanking. Nineteen-year-old Hu Lian flees with fellow students and their faculty on a thousand-mile walk to the safety of China's western provinces. At stake is not only their lives, but a five-hundred-year-old collection of myths and folklore known as the Library of Legends.
Janie Chang's fourth historical fiction novel, The Porcelain Moon: A Novel of France, the Great War, and Forbidden Love (William Morrow $27.99) is set in France, 1918 near the end of WWI. A young Chinese woman, Pauline Deng, runs away from her uncle’s home in Paris to evade a marriage being arranged for her in Shanghai. Pauline ends up lodging in the home of Camille Roussel, who is planning her own escape -- from an abusive marriage as well as the end a love affair that can no longer continue. The two women become friends although Pauline soon uncovers a perilous secret that Camille has been hiding from her. As their dangerous situation escalates, the two women are forced to make a terrible decision that will bind them together for the rest of their lives. Set against the little-known history of the 140,000 Chinese workers brought to Europe as non-combatant labor during WWI, The Porcelain Moon is a tale of forbidden love, identity and belonging, and what we are willing to risk for freedom.
Janie Chang has also lived in the Philippines, Iran, Thailand and New Zealand. She has a degree in computer science from SFU.
BOOKS:
Three Souls (HarperCollins, 2013) $29.99 978-1-44342-390-8
Dragon Springs Road (HarperCollins, 2017) 978-1443439374
The Library of Legends (HarperCollins, 2020) $18.99 978-0062851505
The Porcelain Moon: A Novel of France, the Great War, and Forbidden Love (William Morrow/HarperCollins, 2023) $27.99 9780063072862
[BCBW 2020]
Her second novel, Dragon Springs Road (HarperCollins, 2017), again draws on her family history for inspiration. Set in early twentieth century Shanghai where an ancient imperial dynasty collapses, a new government struggles to coalesce, and two girls - one a Eurasian orphan, the other a daughter of privilege - are bound together in a friendship that will be tested by duty, honour and love.
The Library of Legends (HarperCollins, 2020), Chang's third title, is set in China in 1937 as Japan begins bombing the city of Nanking. Nineteen-year-old Hu Lian flees with fellow students and their faculty on a thousand-mile walk to the safety of China's western provinces. At stake is not only their lives, but a five-hundred-year-old collection of myths and folklore known as the Library of Legends.
Janie Chang's fourth historical fiction novel, The Porcelain Moon: A Novel of France, the Great War, and Forbidden Love (William Morrow $27.99) is set in France, 1918 near the end of WWI. A young Chinese woman, Pauline Deng, runs away from her uncle’s home in Paris to evade a marriage being arranged for her in Shanghai. Pauline ends up lodging in the home of Camille Roussel, who is planning her own escape -- from an abusive marriage as well as the end a love affair that can no longer continue. The two women become friends although Pauline soon uncovers a perilous secret that Camille has been hiding from her. As their dangerous situation escalates, the two women are forced to make a terrible decision that will bind them together for the rest of their lives. Set against the little-known history of the 140,000 Chinese workers brought to Europe as non-combatant labor during WWI, The Porcelain Moon is a tale of forbidden love, identity and belonging, and what we are willing to risk for freedom.
Janie Chang has also lived in the Philippines, Iran, Thailand and New Zealand. She has a degree in computer science from SFU.
BOOKS:
Three Souls (HarperCollins, 2013) $29.99 978-1-44342-390-8
Dragon Springs Road (HarperCollins, 2017) 978-1443439374
The Library of Legends (HarperCollins, 2020) $18.99 978-0062851505
The Porcelain Moon: A Novel of France, the Great War, and Forbidden Love (William Morrow/HarperCollins, 2023) $27.99 9780063072862
[BCBW 2020]
