Eve J. Chung

When civil war threatens the Chinese countryside, the Ang patriarch leaves his wife and daughters behind on their farm. Hai, the eldest of the daughters, often fights with her sister Di, who is headstrong and willing to abandon the traditional beliefs of their family. When the Communist army finds the women left behind, they take Hai to a public denunciation in her father’s place, nearly beating her to death. Knowing that they must escape, the women gather their resources and flee. Along the way they are subject to starvation, disease, and unsafe conditions.

This was a well written and engaging book. The author is a great storyteller. The story itself was heartbreaking. I felt for Hai and her family and cheered for them as they endured one thing after another. I would love to read more from this author. Overall, highly recommended.… (mehr)

This is a historical fiction set in China during the Chinese Revolution. The wealthy Ang family flees their home when the revolutionaries seize it. However, the grandparents and the father leave the mother and her daughters behind. Since she hasn't produced a male heir, the grandmother looks down upon her daughter-in-law, and her granddaughters, deeming them less than worthy of her financial assistance. The mother and her daughters make a difficult journey across China, trying to reunite with the father. Sadly, the grandmother's hatred spews forth again and she tells her daughter-in-law not to come because her son will marry another.
I didn't know of the troubles that people had in China once the revolution took place. The internal politics and the cruelty among its citizens, especially females was heartbreaking. The kindness of a few good people restored my faith.
A very interesting story of hope and perseverance.… (mehr)

Riveting, haunting historical fiction based on the true experiences of Eve J. Chung’s grandmother during the Chinese civil war following World War II.

Hai grows up in Shandong, in their traditional male-centric culture, the eldest worthless daughter of a mother who has produced no sons. Her mother is continually verbally and physically abused by her mother-in-law, forced to kneel for the slightest of perceived wrongs. And they all must toil all day to earn their keep, despite the Ang family wealth. When Hai’s father and his family flee before the advancing communists arrive, leaving behind Hai and her mother and sisters, Di and Lan, the discarded females are thrown off their property in the communist redistribution of land and forced to live in an animal shed. Hai is tortured, and the mother and her three daughters, the youngest still a baby, are forced to undertake a difficult and dangerous trek on foot across war-torn China, hoping to be reunited with the rest of the Ang family, who they eventually learn are safe in Taiwan. The story is spellbinding, the prose well-crafted, and the characters beautifully rendered—especially these resilient, resourceful Ang females.

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this debut novel in exchange for an honest review.… (mehr)

DAUGHTERS OF SHANDONG by Eve J Chung
“Girls are nothing more than wives for other people’s sons.” And so begins the story of Hai, her mother and her sisters. When the communist revolution comes to their area, the girls and their mom are left behind by their wealthy landowning family with only a vague promise to return for them.
Enemies of the communists because of the family’s wealth and importance, the girls and their mother are evicted with no money or food as enemies of the people. Hai, the eldest daughter not yet a teen, narrates this compelling, barely fictionalized account of the journey by foot through China toward Taiwan. The girls come alive on the pages as their harrowing tale is told.
Chung relates the story of her grandmother with deftness and empathy. Although filled with danger, poverty, and continuing disasters, the story offers hope, resilience, love and the power of faith and kindness. Readers will learn much about the Communist takeover of China and the ravages war brings to a peasant population. Book groups will have many topics for discussion from foot binding to the importance of education. I highly recommend this book
5 of 5 stars… (mehr)