A New York Times Notable Book
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
A Finalist for the Chautauqua Prize
Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction
Longlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award
Winner of the Idaho Book of the Year
A Goodreads Choice Award Nominee
A Good Morning America Book Club Buzz Pick
An IndieNext Pick
A Best Book of the Year (The New York Times, TODAY, BookRiot, SheReads, Paste Magazine, Library Journal, Shelf Awareness)
A Most Anticipated Book (The New York Times Book Review, Washington Post, Oprah Daily, BuzzFeed, BookRiot, LitHub, Goodreads, The Millions, Bustle, Business Insider, Ms. Magazine, She Reads)
“Engrossing…Epic…Zhang’s descriptive prose is an arresting combination of earthy and lyric...The resonance and immediacy of these barbarous 19th-century events are testament to Zhang’s storytelling powers, and should stand as a warning to all of us.”
—Jennifer Egan, The New York Times Book Review (cover review)
“A surreal and sprawling story…Historical fiction that lays bare the human tragedy behind the infamous Chinese Exclusion Act.”
—Ayesha Rascoe, NPR Morning Edition
"Zhang’s transporting story of perseverance in the face of shocking injustice resonates across cultures, and also feels sadly relevant to today’s world."
—Washington Post
“The prides and prejudices of the Old West blaze to life in Zhang’s propulsive, fable-like novel…Zhang skillfully embellishes her novel with Chinese characters, suggesting that language is our most potent weapon against oppression.”
—Oprah Daily
"I love this book so much...A wonderful, important historical fiction book about the Chinese Exclusion Act."
—Good Morning America (Buzz Pick)
“Compelling, tragic, and poetic, this debut is an absolute must-read for literary fiction lovers.”
—BuzzFeed
“Expansive and propulsive…Zhang has a talent for immersing readers into a variety of colorful, historical worlds.”
—Daily Beast
“Sweeping…[Zhang] manages to build in delicate moments of beauty…[Daiyu’s] defiant optimism in the face of what the reader knows are impossible dreams…gives her character strength and meaning. And her refusal to give up, even in the face of terrible odds is as inspiring as it is tragic.”
—Paste Magazine
“[A] remarkably assured and executed debut...Zhang moves the story forward with an impressive command of tone, detail and emotional register...Even injustice cannot extinguish Daiyu’s spirit, which is what makes Four Treasures of the Sky a rich reading experience. Faced with racism, hatred and fear, Daiyu stands on her own character, as bold and indomitable as one of Master Wang’s perfectly drawn lines.”
—California Review of Books
“Historical fiction at its most compelling and memorable…Generous, brutal, and heartbreaking…As a reader, you are in the hands of a gifted storyteller.”
—New York Journal of Books
“Zhang’s beautiful, limpid prose penetrates surfaces to illuminate the shadows or currents beneath without self-consciousness, the mark of excellent literary fiction…Brilliant.”
—Historical Novel Society
“A devastating work of art.”
—Shondaland
“Full of life.”
—Bustle
“Beautifully-written…While Zhang is not the first Chinese-American writer to tackle the United States’s shameful treatment of Chinese, her book certainly stands among the most memorable of these....Could not be more timely.”
—The Asian Review of Books
“A dazzling combination of history, unforgettable voice and Chinese mythology that promises much more to come from this bright and devastating new talent. The protagonists of all the books that I read going forward are at a disadvantage: I will be comparing them to Lin Daiyu and her indelible spirit for years to come…This novel will stay with you long after you finish reading it.”
—Bookreporter
“Radiant…A treasure of a debut…[Zhang’s] first novel reveals storytelling skills both vast and specific, bringing shadowy history to light while also displaying a remarkable talent for sensory detail.”
—BookPage (cover story)
"Zhang’s debut novel imaginatively illuminates an often overlooked aspect of American history that resonates powerfully today, the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and concurrent anti-Asian violence… Zhang’s blend of history and magical realism will appeal to fans of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ The Water Dancer as well as Amy Tan's The Valley of Amazement.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Fierce and moving…Zhang delves into the history of violence and prejudice against Chinese people in the U.S. with her debut, a lyrical and sweeping Bildungsroman…The author skillfully delineates the many characters and offers fascinating details on Chinese calligraphy and literature, along with an unsparing view of white supremacy.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Extraordinary…Those who want to learn about a little-known incident in Chinese-American history will be enlightened by this moving debut.”
—Library Journal (starred review)
“Jenny Tinghui Zhang has given us characters to love and root for, and she has pinned to the page the daily devastations that they have faced…But what Zhang has also given us is the power of reclamation, of holding the brush in your own hand and telling your own story.”
—Triangle House
“Jenny Tinghui Zhang uses her considerable talents to illuminate the shocking injustices the Chinese in this country suffered in the 1800s, and in doing so, makes us stop and consider how much of that cruelty and injustice survive to this day. Four Treasures of the Sky is an engulfing, bighearted, and heartbreaking novel.”
—Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House
“An astonishing novel propelled by private and public histories, rich with reflections on self-making, moral calling, great love, and profound injustice. Jenny Tinghui Zhang's writing enthralled me—it is as honed as a needle and as gorgeous as calligraphy.”
—Megha Majumdar, author of A Burning
“An exhilarating rush of character, history, and storytelling. This novel of the American West illuminates the horrific realities of the Chinese Exclusion act of the 1880s. With unforgettable characters, resiliency, and poetic lyricism, Jenny Tinghui Zhang takes her readers on an unforgettable adventure. This carefully researched novel dazzles.”
—Kali Fajardo-Anstine, author of Sabrina & Corina
“Brilliant and devastating, Four Treasures of the Sky tells the story of Daiyu, who is brought to America against her will and forced to hide who she is even as she grows into her true self. Weaving together myth and history, Zhang’s work is both timeless and utterly necessary right now.”
—Anna North, author of Outlawed
“In a sweeping adventure that spans China and the American West, Jenny Tinghui Zhang has crafted a thoughtful story of identity, love, and belonging.”
—C Pam Zhang, author of How Much of These Hills Is Gold
“A revelation and a haunting, Four Treasures of the Sky is an instant and necessary classic, easily among the best novels of this decade. Jenny Tinghui Zhang is a sorcerer of words, weaving adventure, a fully realized history, and a story that lingers long after its final images. A true wonder.”
—T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls
“Jenny Tinghui Zhang captures the adventure, the isolation, the violence, and the glittering hope of the American West. The author's fine attention to historical and human detail has allowed her to bring alive a heroine for the ages, an indomitable teenage girl whose relentless spirit and self-reinvention carries this story. Daiyu is sure to take her place in the canon of great Western heroines next to True Grit's Mattie Ross.”
—Juliet Grames, author of The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna
“To say Four Treasures of the Sky is unflinching doesn’t do justice to the miraculous way in which Jenny Tinghui Zhang paints a neglected chapter in American history with sharp and devastating brushstrokes. This book is haunting, luscious, and precise—it’s historical fiction as we most want and need it to be.”
—Julia Fine, author of The Upstairs House and What Should Be Wild
★ 02/21/2022
Zhang delves into the history of violence and prejudice against Chinese people in the U.S. with her debut, a lyrical and sweeping Bildungsroman. The narrator, Daiyu, is inspired by the tragic character at the center of Cao Xueqin’s 18th-century novel Dream of the Red Chamber, whose irascible trickster ghost inhabits Daiyu. In the 1880s, Daiyu’s mother and father suddenly disappear from their home in China. Daiyu finds refuge in a calligraphy school, disguised as a boy, but is nevertheless smuggled to a brothel in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Narrowly escaping, thanks to the ghost’s fearlessness, she reaches the mining town of Pierce, Idaho, and is hired by Nam and Lum, the Chinese owners of a general store. After a violent white mob threatens them, handsome violin teacher Nelson Wong stands with them and helps rescue a wounded Nam, and Daiyu secretly falls in love with him. Her story of self-discovery is interrupted after the white proprietor of a competing store is found murdered and Daiyu and the others are arrested, then abducted by vigilantes. The author skillfully delineates the many characters and offers fascinating details on Chinese calligraphy and literature, along with an unsparing view of white supremacy. The result is fierce and moving. Agent: Stephanie Delman, Trellis Literary. (Apr.)
★ 06/01/2022
Narrator Katharine Chin's outstanding performance will have listeners weeping as they hear Zhang's debut novel, based on actual events. When her parents are arrested and imprisoned in China, Daiyu is turned out on the street and passes as a boy to get by. When discovered, she is kidnapped and trafficked to the United States, where she experiences many instances of the injustice heaped upon Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans in the American West of the 1880s. Chin's youthful voice is well cast in this production; her Chinese pronunciations appear authentic, and her earnestness when narrating Daiyu's perspective rings true. She makes excellent use of pacing and maintains strong emotions throughout. Particularly memorable are Daiyu's anger at a fishmonger, outrage at unfair working conditions, fear that her secret will be discovered, and disappointment when she sees a man whom she has feelings for kiss another woman. VERDICT Fans of Amy Tan will appreciate Zhang's dive into a little-told history of immigrants and Chinese Americans in the American West after the passage of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.—Stephanie Bange
★ 04/01/2022
DEBUT After seeing a road marker in Pierce, ID, stating "Chinese Hanging," Zhang put an extraordinary amount of research into this historical novel with a touch of magical realism. The 1880s Chinese Exclusion Act permitted such barbaric behavior. In China, Daiyu had a happy childhood until her parents disappeared. Then she's kidnapped and transported to a brutal San Francisco brothel. After escaping, she moves to Boise, ID, where she calls herself Jacob Li (for protection against the violent American men she encounters). Eventually, she meets two elderly Chinese men in Pierce who give her work in their store and a home. One day, she and the store owners are threatened and abused by a white shopkeeper. Things take a tragic turn when Daiyu, the old men, and another Chinese friend are falsely accused of murdering their "rival." The sham trial adds to the horror and indignity they face as their lives are deemed expendable. In the epilogue, Zhang reveals that she finished the first draft of the book when COVID struck, when then-president Trump called it "The Chinese Virus." This emboldened her to remind people of what the United States did—and is still capable of. VERDICT Those who want to learn about a little-known incident in Chinese-American history will be enlightened by this moving debut.—Susan G. Baird
Katharine Chin’s narration expresses the lyricism and emotions of this historical novel, which takes listeners into the late-nineteenth-century world of Daiyu, who is kidnapped from China. She reinvents herself again and again amid the prejudice of the U.S.’s 1882 Exclusion Act. Chin embraces the balance of adventure and sensitivity, as well as the layered persona of Daiyu. Chin also conveys the intelligence, creativity, and strength of the heroine as she makes calligraphy her own, escapes a San Francisco brothel, and falls into the hands of white mobsters in a small Idaho town. In neutral tones, the author delivers an afterword and participates in an interview that recounts her own journey and the truths behind the story. S.W. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
2022-02-09
After she’s kidnapped and smuggled to California, a young Chinese woman tries to survive in late-19th-century America.
As a child, Daiyu doesn’t have much to worry about: Her life in a small village is quiet, full of her grandmother’s beautiful garden and the rich tapestries her parents weave. Soon enough, though, things get complicated: Her parents suddenly disappear, and when Daiyu and her grandmother find out they've been arrested, Daiyu is forced to leave home. Though she briefly scrounges a living in nearby Zhifu, working for a calligraphy master she reveres, she’s soon kidnapped herself, imprisoned, and finally shipped off to America, where she’s expected to work in a brothel. Daiyu’s journey ultimately takes her to the small town of Pierce, Idaho, where she masquerades as a young man and works as a shop assistant. There, she both falls in love and is confronted with the ugly reality of rising anti-Chinese violence, which puts her safety and that of her friends at risk. Debut novelist Zhang has thoroughly researched this period; certain details, like Daiyu’s making her Pacific crossing in a coal bucket, startle and linger. Yet the relentlessly hopeful tone of much of the novel can feel discordant given the often grim realities of this historical period, which are gestured at here but not explored fully: Zhang’s depiction of sex work is superficial, and despite Daiyu’s long-term cross-dressing, the novel is disappointingly uninterested in queerness. It often feels designed more for teenagers than adult readers—Zhang’s expository explanation of the Chinese Exclusion Act is particularly leaden—and so its thoroughly bleak ending, partly inspired by a real historical massacre, comes as a jarring surprise. There’s nothing wrong with darkness—this novel could have used more—but its mix of tones feels out of whack.
A well-intentioned but frustrating debut that never comes together.
