Published by Sinoist Books

Publicity contact: Publicity@alaincharlesasia.com

              

Download advance-information sheet (AI)

Old Kiln

Jia Pingwa

Translated by Christopher Payne, James Trapp, Olivia Milburn

Sinoist Books

Paperback

960pp

ISBN: 9781838905262

Fiction

Publication date: 30 May 2025

£19.99

BUY NOW

1966, China is on the cusp of a decade of upheaval, and the furnaces of Old Kiln have never been this cold. The village’s once-famed ceramics production has almost ground to a halt. Only ancient grudges smoulder beneath its poverty-stricken streets, never forgotten by the two families that preside over the village. Between them stands the adopted Inkcap, whose mysterious origins leave him unloved and barely tolerated.

When the faraway capital demands a purer party line, the directive trickles down to this hinterland and revolutionary factions form. Clashing visions for a new future unravel the tight-knit community along old clan lines.

Inkcap’s gift for communicating with the natural world gives him solace, and a unique perspective in witnessing the violence punctuating daily existence. As fervour mutates into ways of settling scores, being an outcast might just save him – but for the shattered families, can the pieces be put together again?