Water Ghosts, Shawna Yang Ryan
Water Ghosts, Shawna Yang Ryan
List: $16.99 | Sale: $11.89
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Water Ghosts
A Novel

Author: Shawna Yang Ryan

Narrator: Laural Merlington

Unabridged: 6 hr 34 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 05/04/2009

Synopsis

Locke, California, 1928. Three bedraggled Chinese women suddenly appear out of the mist one afternoon in a small Chinese farming town on the Sacramento River, and their arrival throws the community into confusion. Two of the women are unknown to the townspeople, while the third is the long-lost wife of Richard Fong, the handsome manager of the local gambling parlor, who had left her behind in China many years earlier and had not yet returned for her.

Richard's wife's unexpected arrival complicates his life in no small way—not least with two prostitutes at the local brothel he frequents. One, the beautiful young Chloe, depends on him but has eyes for someone else, someone even more forbidden: the local preacher's daughter. The other, Poppy, the psychic madam of the brothel, is desperately in love with Richard, and she begins to sink into despair as he grows further and further away from her.

As the lives of the townspeople become inextricably intertwined with the newly arrived women, Poppy's premonitions begin to foretell a deep unhappiness for all involved. And when a flood threatens the livelihood of the entire town, the frightening power of these mysterious women who arrived in the mist will be revealed.

About Shawna Yang Ryan

Born in Sacramento, California, the child of parents who met during the Vietnam War when her father was stationed in Taiwan, Shawna Yang Ryan graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and received an M.A. from the University of California, Davis. In 2002, she was a Fulbright Scholar in Taiwan, and in 2006, she received the Maurice Prize for Fiction. She currently lives in Berkeley, California.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Deb on August 16, 2012

With Ghost Month starting this week, this is the perfect time to take a look at Water Ghosts. This book was originally published under the title Locke 1928, and until I neared the end of the book, I would have said Locke 1928 was a better title than Water Ghosts. This is one of those novels in which......more

Goodreads review by Kristy on January 04, 2020

One of the most haunting books I've ever read. The ghosts of our regrets are woven into each word until they have wrapped themselves around the souls of the living. I drowned so many times reading this. So much truth and beauty that it exquisitely hurts to breathe it in and I wanted to breathe it al......more

Goodreads review by Kathleen on August 24, 2010

I really hate to give this book only three stars because it is truly beautifully written. I love the haunting mood of the novel and the use of Chinese mythology and stories. However, I have to add into my rating how enjoyable I found it to read. I tend to love novels that give me characters that I c......more

Goodreads review by Jason on July 02, 2010

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted illegally.) One of the biggest pleasures of running this website is the chance to discover new books recommended to me......more

Goodreads review by Jenni on October 04, 2022

There's a good story here, but I think reading in print vs. audio would have made it a much more enjoyable read for me. It took me most of the book to work out who was who and which characters were related to each other in some way or other - but this is my strength as a visual vs. auditory learner,......more

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