The Incarnations
The critically acclaimed epic novel from the author of Old Soul
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
'You must be wondering who I am.
I am your soulmate, your old friend,
and I have come back to this city of sixteen million in search of you'
A sweeping tale of love, betrayal and sacrifice told through five lives over a thousand years of Chinese history
'Reads as China's Midnight's Children. Utterly remarkable' Independent
'Kaleidoscopically imaginative ' The New Yorker
'An immersive, stunningly weird tale' Guardian
Beijing, 2008, the Olympics are coming, but as taxi driver Wang circles the city's congested streets, he feels barely alive. His daily grind is suddenly interrupted when he finds a letter in the sunshade of his cab. He is being warned: Someone is watching him. Someone who claims to be his soulmate and to have known him for over a thousand years.
Other letters follow, and Wang will re-live five lives with his soulmate:
- as spirit-brides escaping sacrifice in the Tang Dynasty;
- young slaves dashing through the desert after the Mongol invasion;
- palace concubines plotting to kill their murderous emperor;
- fisherman assisting a bloody kidnapping in the Opium War;
- Red Guards turning against their schoolfriends during the Cultural revolution.
As each past life unfolds, Wang feels his ghostly soulmate. In the shadows. Growing closer ...
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A New York Times Editors' Choice and Notable Book of the Year.
Shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction
PRAISE FOR SUSAN BARKER:
'[A] kaleidoscopically imaginative novel...Barker stitches together an unnervingly perceptive portrait of China and of the enduring influence that its past has on the present' THE NEW YORKER
'A thrilling journey through a thousand years of obsession and betrayal, this is the most extraordinary work of imagination you'll read all year' ADAM JOHNSON, Winner of the PULITZER Prize for Fiction
'Erudite, intriguing and compulsively readable, Susan Barker, a born story-teller, has written one of the most remarkable novels of recent years' JOHN BOYNE
'A brilliant, mind-expanding, and wildly original novel' CHRIS CLEAVE
'A hallucinatory ride. Highly recommend' ANNA HOPE
For OLD SOULS: ‘Sinister, mysterious and gorgeously realised.’ Kaliane Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time.
‘Suspend your disbelief and flow along with this masterful novel’ The Guardian
‘[An] immersive and subtle horror story, weaving a delicately complex plot that leaves the reader with a lingering sense of dread.’ The Spectator
‘Super-sophisticated horror, as indebted to literary fiction as it is to gothic gore.’ The Times
‘As unnerving as it is beautifully written… A mesmerising, genre-bending read.’ The i Paper
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
With her latest, Barker (Sayonara Bar) produces a page-turning reincarnation fantasy. In modern-day Beijing, Driver Wang receives anonymous letters from a source claiming to have known him in five previous lifetimes over the past 1,000 years. The letters narrate these lifetimes set in the Tang Dynasty, 632 C.E.; the Jin Dynasty, 1213; the Ming Dynasty, 1542; the Qing Dynasty, 1836; and the People's Republic of China, 1966 and paint them in lush historical detail, exhibiting Barker's extensive research. These two "souls" have inhabited many rich characters (eunuch, prostitute, slave, concubine, pirate, Red Guard) and have been friends, enemies, parents, and lovers. Every new incarnation reverses their power dynamic, giving one the opportunity to betray the other. Not for the squeamish, these historical narratives contain graphic torture and sexual violence. Meanwhile, Wang's current incarnation also includes a series of radical shifts and identities within a lifetime: born to a wealthy government official father and a mentally unstable mother, he has been a promising student, an asylum inmate, a closeted homosexual, a husband, a father, and a taxi driver. Driving the narrative is the suspense over the identity of Wang's stalker and whether the stories are indeed true. A very memorable read.
