May 1938. The young novelist Aoyama Chizuko has sailed from her home in Nagasaki, Japan, and arrived in Taiwan. Shes been invited there by the Japanese government ruling the island, though she has no interest in their official banquets or imperialist agenda.
Instead, Chizuko longs to experience real island life and to taste as much of its authentic cuisine as her famously monstrous appetite can bear.
Soon, a Taiwanese woman—who is younger even than she is, and who shares the characters of her name—is hired as her interpreter and makes her dreams come true.
The charming, erudite, and meticulous Chizuru arranges Chizukos travels across the Land of the South.
She also proves to be an exceptional cook.
Through scenic train rides, braised pork rice, lively banter, and winter melon tea, a bond begins to form.
Chizuko grows increasingly infatuated with her companion and becomes intent on drawing her closer. But something causes Chizuru to keep her distance.
Its only after a heartbreaking separation that Chizuko begins to understand what that "something" truly is.
About the Book:
A novel disguised as a translation of a rediscovered Japanese text.
First published in Mandarin Chinese in 2020.
Winner of Taiwans highest literary honor, the Golden Tripod Award.
Explores lost colonial histories and complex power dynamics.
A deeply moving story of love, identity, and imbalance in human relationships.
About the Author: Shuang-zi Yang
Yáng Shu?ng-z? is a writer of fiction, essays, manga and video game scripts, and literary criticism from Táich?ng, Taiwan. In 2020, she was featured in Wenshun magazines Rising Stars of the Twenty-First Century and Unitas magazines Twenty Most Promising Young Novelists. In 2021, she was the youngest-ever nominee for the United Daily News Literary Award, and her novel Taiwan Travelogue was awarded the Golden Tripod Award, Taiwans highest literary honor. In 2022, Yáng was voted Representative Author of Twenty-First Century Taiwanese Popular Literature.
Lin King is a writer and translator from Táip?i, Taiwan. Her writing has appeared in One Story, Boston Review, Joyland, and Far-Near, among other publications, and has received the PEN/ Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers. Her translations from Mandarin Chinese and Japanese have appeared in Asymptote, the Margins, and Columbia Journal. She is also the translator of the Taiwanese historical graphic novel series The Boy from Clearwater, by Yu Pei-Yun
