Water Ghosts - by Shawna Yang Ryan (Paperback)

About the Book

A mesmerizing story of a community of Chinese immigrants in a small California town in 1928, "Water Ghosts" weaves history with mythology around the lives of the townspeople and the ghosts who haunt them.

Book Synopsis

A mesmerizing debut novel that weaves history and mythology around a community of Chinese immigrants and the ghosts that haunt them

Locke, California, 1928. Three bedraggled Chinese women appear out of the mist in a small Chinese farming town on the Sacramento River. Two are unknown to its residents, while the third is the long-lost wife of Richard Fong, the handsome manager of the local gambling parlor. As the lives of the townspeople become inextricably intertwined with the newly arrived women, their frightening power is finally revealed.

A lyrical imagining of what happens when a Chinese ghost story comes true, Water Ghosts is a rich tale of human passions and mingling cultures that will appeal to readers of Lisa See, Anchin Min, and Gail Tsukiyama.

Review Quotes

aArtfully woven, exquisitely modulated, walking a masteras line between ancient Chinese myth and the grit of immigrant life in the Sacramento Delta, "Locke 1928" tells the unforgettable story of a town brought to its knees by loneliness and longing. Complicated, compassionate, haunting, Shawna Yang Ryanas novel feels more like tapestry than words on paper, her prose less like sentences, and more like song.a
aPam Houston, author of "Cowboys Are My Weakness"
aShawna Ryanas "Locke 1928" is a multilayered marvel of a book. The prose is a delight, the characters fascinating, the story richly imagined and heart-rending. This first novel of grace and substance presages a notable literary career for Shawna Yang Ryan.a
aJohn Lescroart, author of "Betrayal"
a"Locke 1928" is an auspicious debut that not only entertains, but opens our eyes to a rich, poignant piece of Chinese-American history.a
aGail Tsukiyama, author of "Dreaming Water"

About the Author

Shawna Yang Ryan was born in Sacramento, California, and received her BA from the University of California, Berkeley, and her MA from the University of California, Davis. In 2002, she was a Fulbright Scholar in Taiwan. Water Ghosts, originally published as Locke 1928, was a finalist for the 2008 Northern California Book Award. She currently lives in Berkeley.