Dream of Ding Village

Shortlisted, Man Asia Prize 2011 and the UK Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2012 'I come from the bottom of society. All my relatives live in Henan, one of the poorest areas of China. When I think of people's situation there, it is impossible not to feel angry and emotional. Anger and passion are the soul of my work.' Yan Lianke A dead boy tells the bizarre tale of the life and death of an entire community in Henan province. His neighbours sell their blood and their coffins, and then arrange marriages for their own dead family members in the afterlife. Yan Lianke, author of the masterpiece Serve the People!, is a genius storyteller and fierce satirist, confronting the moving and absurd antics of people forced to live under an inhuman regime. 'A brilliant and harrowing novel…Carter does a crystalline translation of Lianke's brazen, unflinching portrayal of a community in the throes of collapse.' Publisher's Weekly