Full name: The Dark Road: A Novel

Author: Ma Jian Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Fiction, Historical fiction, Contemporary Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9781594205026 1594205027

Meili, a young peasant woman born in the remote heart of China, is married to Kongzi, a village school teacher, and a distant descendant of Confucius. They have a daughter, but desperate for a son to carry on his illustrious family line, Kongzi gets Meili pregnant again without waiting for official permission. When family planning officers storm the village to arrest violators of the population control policy, mother, father and daughter escape to the Yangtze River and begin a fugitive life. For years they drift south through the poisoned waterways and ruined landscapes of China, picking up work as they go along, scavenging for necessities and flying from police detection. As Meili's body continues to be invaded by her husband and assaulted by the state, she fights to regain control of her fate and that of her unborn child. Similar books: Chronicle of a Blood Merchant by Yu Hua Big Breasts and Wide Hips by Mo Yan Rice by Su Tong UFO in Her Eyes by Xiaolu Guo Brothers by Yu Hua Shanghai Baby by Wei Hui Village of Stone by Xiaolu Guo Letter from Peking by Pearl S. Buck The Three Daughters of Madam Liang by Pearl S. Buck To Live by Yu Hua In the Pond by Ha Jin The Garlic Ballads by Mo Yan Rickshaw Boy by She Lao The Vagrants by Yiyun Li Beijing Coma by Ma Jian Trail of Broken Wings by Sejal Badani A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum The Road Home by Rose Tremain A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne