Frog

A NEW YORK TIMES TOP BOOK OF 2015

WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE BOOK

The author of Red Sorghum and China’s most revered and controversial novelist returns with his first major publication since winning the Nobel Prize

In 2012, the Nobel committee confirmed Mo Yan’s position as one of the greatest and most important writers of our time. In his much-anticipated new novel, Mo Yan chronicles the sweeping history of modern China through the lens of the nation’s controversial one-child policy.

Frog opens with a playwright nicknamed Tadpole who plans to write about his aunt. In her youth, Gugu—the beautiful daughter of a famous doctor and staunch Communist—is revered for her skill as a midwife. But when her lover defects, Gugu’s own loyalty to the Party is questioned. She decides to prove her allegiance by strictly enforcing the one-child policy, keeping tabs on the number of children in the village, and performing abortions on women as many as eight months pregnant.

In sharply personal prose, Mo Yan depicts a world of desperate families, illegal surrogates, forced abortions, and the guilt of those who must enforce the policy. At once illuminating and devastating, it shines a light into the heart of communist China.

Born in 1955, MO YAN is a native of Shandong. He has written ten novels, a number of novellas, and many short stories. He lives in China. HOWARD GOLDBLATT is widely recognized as one of the best translators from Chinese to English and has received the National Translation Award as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship for his work. He lives in Colorado.