The Walking Boy: A Novel - Softcover

Kwa, Lydia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1552637859 ISBN 13: 9781552637852

Publisher: Key Porter Books, 2007

Synopsis

Set in 8th century China during the Tang Dynasty, The Walking Boy is a vivid and compelling novel inspired by true historical events during the final years of the reign of the country's only female emperor.

Abandoned as a young child to the care of an aging hermit monk, Baoshi lives a simple and pious life in an isolated mountain shack. Although called a boy, Baoshi carries with him a secret only his master knows:he was born both male and female. When he is just 16, the young disciple is sent on a quest to find his master's former lover. So begins the walking boy's journey to Chang'an, the ancient Western Capital and the epicentre of the Tang Dynasty, ruled by the bitter and aging Female Emperor. Baoshi soon finds himself embroiled in a ghost story set amongst the sumptuous and elaborate rituals of the palace, a decadent world of corruption and intrigue, passion and desire.

The Walking Boy is a contemporary re-visioning of 8th century China that employs the narrative conventions of the classical Chinese novel through the prism of a hauntingly modern story of love and longing, power and greed, and the individual's search for meaning.

About this title

About the Author:

LYDIA KWA is the author of a poetry collection, The Colours of Heroines, and two novels, This Place Called Absence and The Walking Boy, which was shortlisted for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. She was born in Singapore and moved to Canada in 1980. After obtaining a B.Sc. in psychology at the University of Toronto, Kwa studied at Queen's University and obtained her M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. She now lives and works in Vancouver as a writer and psychologist. Please see www.lydiakwa.com for more on the author.

About this edition

• Publisher: Key Porter Books
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1552637859
• ISBN 13: 9781552637852
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288