Old Town

Lin Zhe, one of China’s most prolific writers, paints an unforgettable picture of an ordinary family caught up in the maelstrom that was China’s most recent century. Her narrative ranges across the entire length of China, to California and back again, to the battlefields of the Anti-Japanese War of Resistance and the brutal “struggle” sessions of the Cultural Revolution. But it always returns to this family’s home in Old Town, that archetypical, old-fashioned, and vanishing place steeped in the traditions of South China. Ms. Lin examines the inner strength that sustains people’s lives in their darkest hours, when religious and political faith falter. And yet, a vein of irony and droll humor runs through this powerful story. Lin Zhe’s novel may be understood as a love story, memoir, history, or allegory. For the non-Chinese reader it provides a rare and moving insight into Chinese lives in a century of fearsome upheaval. This book was originally published under the title Riddles of Belief…And Love―A Story.

Lin Zhe is the pen name of a noted contemporary Chinese novelist and screenwriter. Altogether Ms. Lin has written fourteen novels, which largely deal with women’s issues. Two Chinese television series have been based on this novel, her first to appear in English.

George A. Fowler is a freelance translator of four Asian languages who lived and worked in Asia for 30+ years. His recent translation of the classic Indonesian Malay novel, Sitti Nurbaya, is a forthcoming publication by Lontar in Jakarta.