The Book of Crows

In his second novel, the acclaimed author of Under Fishbone Clouds reaches across Chinese history with lyrically interwoven tales of human longing.

It is said that the Book of Crows contains the entire history of the world—past, present, and future. Equally sought after and feared, this mysterious book touches lives both high and low, young and old, ancient and modern. In a series of narratives spanning millennia, author Sam Meekings conjures a tale both epic and intimate.


When a teenage girl is abducted, she soon finds herself facing a new life in a remote mountain brothel. Thousands of years later, a humble bureaucrat must search for a missing colleague in the rubble from a devastating landslide. While travelling the Silk Road, a medieval Franciscan monk offers shocking revelations in the form of a deathbed confession. And a Chinese poet must put grief aside to answer a call to the Emperor's palace.


Each of them will in some way feel the powerful influence of the Book of Crows.