Do Not Say We Have Nothing

Product Description SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2017 SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2016 WINNER OF THE SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE 2016 SHORTLISTED FOR THE PARAGRAPHE HUGH MACLENNAN PRIZE FOR FICTION 2016 Caanada in 1991, ten-year-old Marie and her mother invite a guest into their home: a young woman who has fled China in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square protests. Her name is Ai-Ming. As her relationship with Marie deepens, Ai-Ming tells the story of her family in revolutionary China, from the crowded teahouses in the first days of Chairman Mao's ascent to the Shanghai Conservatory in the 1960s and the events leading to the Beijing demonstrations of 1989. It is a history of revolutionary idealism, music, and silence, in which three musicians, the shy and brilliant composer Sparrow, the violin prodigy Zhuli, and the enigmatic pianist Kai struggle during China's relentless Cultural Revolution to remain loyal to one another and to the music they have devoted their lives to. Forced to re-imagine their artistic and private selves, their fates reverberate through the years, with deep and lasting consequences for Ai-Ming - and for Marie. Written with exquisite intimacy, wit and moral complexity, Do Not Say We Have Nothing magnificently brings to life one of the most significant political regimes of the 20th century and its traumatic legacy, which still resonates for a new generation. It is a gripping evocation of the persuasive power of revolution and its effects on personal and national identity, and an unforgettable meditation on China today. Review 'To communicate the emotional depth of [the world the novel depicts] is an achievement, to do it with such an elegant touch is startling... both main tales are equally enchanting... Do Not Say We Have Nothing reminds us what fiction can do for the truth' -- New Statesman Best Books of 2016, selected by AM Homes, Observer 'Epic in scope and delicate in detail' --Peter Kemp, Best Books of 2016, Sunday Times 'A moving story of idealism, silence and music' -- Brian Donaldson, Hottest Reads of 2016, List 'Thien's writing has a symphonic quality; motifs repeat and intertwine, crescendoing to the events of 1989. Language and music become a means of transcending ideology. Restrained, courageous and profound, Thien's novel bears witness to a period the true history of which remains contested' -- Lettie Kennedy, Observer>/i> 'A powerful third novel [...] Thien takes this history [of the Cultural Revolution] and weaves it into a vivid, magisterial novel that reaches back to China's civil war and up to the present day... The fragile dreams of Thien's characters run in counterpoint to the disordered cruelty of the Maoist politics, with Glenn Gould's two recordings of Bach's Goldberg Variations running through the novel like a soundtrack of suffering and redemption. This is a moving and extraordinary evocation of the 20th-century tragedy of China, and deserves to cement Thien's reputation as an important and compelling writer' -- Isabel Hilton, Guardian 'Extraordinary... Thien's beautiful 450-page epic [is] a living, breathing organism [...] as finely plotted as one of the suppressed symphonies of Sparrow [who] is the sorrowful soul of the book, an understatement of abandoned ambition and thwarted emotion. [Do Not Say We Have Nothing is a] work of fiction as concerned with the expression of beauty as it is with brutality... It recalls the panoramic scale and domestic minutiae of the great 19th-century Russian writers... A highly suspenseful drama; as measured , intoxicating and tragic as Zhuli's violin playing; as courageous and far-reaching as principled resistance itself' -- Catherine Taylor, Financial Times 'A magnificent epic of Chinese history, richly detailed and beautifully written' -- Kate Saunders, The Times 'A deeply profound and moving tale where music, mathematics and family history are beautifully woven together in a poetic story... Full of