The Good Women of Fudi
Overview
Imperial China meets Edwardian England in this epic story of loves lost and gained, set during the aftermath of the Opium Wars.
Best friends Jiali and Wu Fang know that no man is a match for them. In their small harbour town of Fudi, they practise sword fighting, write couplets to one another, and strut around dressed as men. Jiali is a renowned poet and Wu Fang is going to be China’s first female surgeon. But when Wu Fang returns from medical training in Japan, she is horrified to hear of Jiali’s marriage to a man who cannot even match her couplets, and confused by her intense feelings of jealousy towards her friend’s new husband, Yanbu.
Ocean man Charles has arrived in Fudi to start a new life. He eschews the company of his fellow foreigners, preferring to spend time with new colleague Yanbu, his wife, Jiali, and her friend, Wu Fang. Over the course of several months, he grows close to them all, in increasingly confusing ways, but what will happen when he is forced to choose between his country and his friends?
As tensions between the Manchu rulers and the people rise, and foreign battleships gather out to sea, loyalties will be tested in more ways than Jiali, Wu Fang, Yanbu, and Charles can possibly imagine.
Details
- Format
- Size
- Extent
- ISBN
- RRP
- Pub date
- Rights held
- Other rights
- Paperback
- 198mm x 129mm
- 336 pages
- 9781915590572
- GBP£10.99
- 2 May 2024
- World English
- David Higham Associates
Categories
Praise
‘The Good Women of Fudi, by Lui Hong is a torrid romance that shows how love can transcend traditional gender expectations and national borders.’
Praise for Wives of the East Wind:
‘A fine combination of delicacy and steeliness … the yin and yang of marriage, Weyna’s barbed relationship with her widowed mother, loyalty misplaced and rediscovered — makes for a warm and understated novel.’
About the Author
Liu Hong grew up in the North East of China, near the Chinese–North Korean border. She came to Britain in 1989. Since then she has worked here as a writer, teacher, and as a translator. Her writing career began with four novels published by Headline Review: Startling Moon (2002), The Magpie Bridge (2004), The Touch (2006), and Wives of the East Wind (2007). She is also the author of Nas Folhas do Chá, a children’s book co-written with Flávia Lins e Silva, published by Zahar (2012). She took a break from writing to raise children, chickens, and chives; she returns now with The Good Women of Fudi. She lives in Wiltshire.
