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A review by constantreader471
A Single Swallow by Zhang Ling
4.0
4 stars for a literary fiction book that is a story of how WWII affected 4 people in a small village in China. This book was written in Chinese and translated into English. The translation is excellent.
It is a love story of 3 men, American soldier Ian Ferguson, American missionary/doctor Pastor Billy and local soldier Liu Zhaohu, all of whom fall in love with Ah Yan, also known as Swallow. Pastor Billy calls her Stella, Ian calls her Wende. and Liu calls her Yao Ah Yan "Swallow."
Pastor Billy teaches her enough medical skills so that she can become a rural doctor. I don't want to go into spoiler territory, but there is rape in this story and it affects how these 3 people relate to each other.The story is told from the viewpoints of the three men in flashbacks. The 3 men come together after they are dead as ghosts.
If you like fiction with a strong woman protagonist, you should like this story. It was an Amazon eBook.
Some quotes:
"Ah Yan had laughed at how my father spoke as if fog really had substance. My father had tapped her head with his bamboo chopsticks, and said, “You don’t believe me? Well, people eat dogs, dogs eat shit, and tea leaves eat fog. Look at all the good tea leaves around the world and tell me, which does not come from a misty mountain?”
"Time is a miraculous thing. It can wear down the thorns of emotion, gradually eroding them to dust, and from this dust, a new sprout grows."
"The sunflowers were full and solid, each golden face looking like a woman who knows how to flirt, free of bashfulness, turned to look at the sky. Everything was golden that day—the rows of finely scattered clouds on the horizon, the bees buzzing on the open flowers, the butterflies flitting through the forest, and the dew clinging to each leaf. I closed my eyes, imprinting the golden memory on my mind as I breathed in the golden breeze. When I opened my eyes again, I suddenly noticed a figure wearing a golden straw hat in the heart of the sunflower forest. "
It is a love story of 3 men, American soldier Ian Ferguson, American missionary/doctor Pastor Billy and local soldier Liu Zhaohu, all of whom fall in love with Ah Yan, also known as Swallow. Pastor Billy calls her Stella, Ian calls her Wende. and Liu calls her Yao Ah Yan "Swallow."
Pastor Billy teaches her enough medical skills so that she can become a rural doctor. I don't want to go into spoiler territory, but there is rape in this story and it affects how these 3 people relate to each other.The story is told from the viewpoints of the three men in flashbacks. The 3 men come together after they are dead as ghosts.
If you like fiction with a strong woman protagonist, you should like this story. It was an Amazon eBook.
Some quotes:
"Ah Yan had laughed at how my father spoke as if fog really had substance. My father had tapped her head with his bamboo chopsticks, and said, “You don’t believe me? Well, people eat dogs, dogs eat shit, and tea leaves eat fog. Look at all the good tea leaves around the world and tell me, which does not come from a misty mountain?”
"Time is a miraculous thing. It can wear down the thorns of emotion, gradually eroding them to dust, and from this dust, a new sprout grows."
"The sunflowers were full and solid, each golden face looking like a woman who knows how to flirt, free of bashfulness, turned to look at the sky. Everything was golden that day—the rows of finely scattered clouds on the horizon, the bees buzzing on the open flowers, the butterflies flitting through the forest, and the dew clinging to each leaf. I closed my eyes, imprinting the golden memory on my mind as I breathed in the golden breeze. When I opened my eyes again, I suddenly noticed a figure wearing a golden straw hat in the heart of the sunflower forest. "