Publishers Weekly
06/24/2024
Chen debuts with a poignant saga of a Chinese family’s heartbreak and loss over nearly a century. In 1927, Yunghong Zhang, the daughter of a doctor in rural southern China, marries Haiyang, the son of a local lord. Soon thereafter, her happiness is cut short when her two older brothers participate in the peasant revolution, resulting in Haiyang’s death during a raid on his family’s house. Yunghong, pregnant with Haiyang’s daughter, returns to her family, who raise her daughter, Yuexin, as the child of a distant cousin, futilely hoping Yunghong will marry again. At school Yuexin is called a “bastard” by her classmates, and after Yunghong tells Yuexin the truth about her origins, she resents her mother for keeping them a secret. During the Cultural Revolution, Yuexin gives birth to twins Hongxing, who becomes an actress, and Yonghong, whose first love dies after being assigned grueling farm work by the government. In the 1990s, Yonghong moves to Boston and has a daughter while Hongxing unhappily stays in China, where in 2018 she’s persecuted after falling in love with a woman. Chen’s sprawling narrative provides a wrenching window onto the ways in which a family is torn apart by political upheaval. This will move readers. Agent: Sarah Bowlin, Aevitas Creative Management. (May)
From the Publisher
A poignant, impressive debut.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Their Divine Fires is a gorgeous, emotionally searing debut about the lasting and mysterious effects of the past—both political and personal—particularly on girls and women confined and defined by others in a volatile world. Chen has woven together a deeply moving, complex novel that takes us on multiple journeys of love, sacrifice, and grief. These characters are utterly unforgettable. What an incredible, artful feat announcing the arrival of a brilliant writer.”—Alexandra Chang, author of Days of Distraction
"Their Divine Fires captures both the colossal and the intimate. It is precise and also containing grand histories. A beautiful, and necessary art."—Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Chain Gang All-Stars
“Their Divine Fires is utterly hypnotic—the kind of novel only a poet could write. Never before have I read a debut that captures so perfectly the ache of what is left unsaid between generations. This is the family saga that I’ve been craving for years, a sensitive and deeply human reckoning with the aftermath of historical trauma and what happens when we try to speak the unspeakable. Chen’s writing is arresting, lyrical, and full of verve. Their Divine Fires will burn in my memory for years to come.” —Ruth Madievsky, author of All-Night Pharmacy
“Impressively epic yet intimate, unputdownable yet historically significant, Their Divine Fires moved me to my core. What an incredible page-turner! What a rare talent Wendy Chen is! Inspired by the author’s family experiences, this debut novel is a testament to the power of fiction in reconciling with the secrets of our past. The lyricism of Wendy’s prose and the emotional depth of her storytelling will stay with me for years to come.”—Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, internationally bestselling author of The Mountains Sing and Dust Child
"Wendy Chen has crated a peerless first novel that I expect to be the sleeper hit of the season. Read it!"—Mary Karr, author of The Liar's Club
“Their Divine Fires is a fascinating and powerful debut. In gorgeous, elegant prose, Chen follows multiple generations of one family, intimately tracing how living through the Chinese Revolution and its aftermath shapes them in ways they don’t always fully understand. As the years go by, we see the consequences play out in their lives, and ultimately how their deep connections to one another prevail.”—Dana Spiotta, author of Wayward
“This powerful yet tender epic is perfect for readers of intergenerational fiction driven by strong female leads.”—Booklist
“A fascinating read”—Freshfiction.com
“Chen’s writing is so quick-paced and emotive, it was much like a movie I need to keep watching.”—Conde Nast Traveler
JUNE 2024 - AudioFile
This deeply moving family drama weaves together the lives of several generations of a Chinese family, beginning at the time of the Cultural Revolution. Katharine Chin's emotional range is particularly impressive as she seamlessly transitions among different time periods and perspectives, anchoring listeners to each moment in the story. From Yunhong, one of the star-crossed lovers at the story's start, to her great granddaughter, Emily, listeners are immersed in this rich exploration of family, identity, and resilience. Chin does a masterful job of balancing the family's tragedies and hopes. Listeners will be compelled to move through each generation's struggle to make sense of the family's persistent secrets. M.R. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2024-02-17
Four generations of a Chinese and Chinese American family navigate the ties and trials of kinship.
Chen begins her first novel with a fairytale romance in rural pre-communist China. Yunhong, whose name translates as something like Clouds of Happy Red, is from the Zhangs, a family of modest means, and her beau is the son of a local lord. But their marriage in 1927 is short-lived. One of her brothers is among the revolutionaries who ransack the lord’s house and kill her husband. The time shifts to 1967 and Nanjing. Yunhong’s twin granddaughters march off to school carrying Mao’s Little Red Book. Children have names like Leap Forward and Resist America. One twin loses her lover when he’s rusticated, like so many during the Cultural Revolution, and dies. The other, Hongxing, dreams of “joining an art troupe” and falls into a forbidden love. The book’s last big section jumps to the U.S. in the years 2004-2009. While some family members left China for the U.S., one who remained is Hongxing. She enjoyed a successful acting career until her illicit love emerged and she was “erased from public memory by the government.” Feeling utterly alone, she visits her sister in the U.S. and hopes to persuade her to have their ailing mother buried in China. Chen’s narrative is full of poignant family moments set against the larger canvas of history, while singular and recurring images link the fragmented narrative: a birthmark carried by daughters; a silk-lined trunk and its keepsakes handed down across generations; memories that are rendered as bedtime stories with dragons and princes; an old damaged photo restored by computer to startling clarity. Throughout, the author depicts women who find in themselves the strength to be more than the times might allow and in their families a sweet solace amid that struggle.
A poignant, impressive debut.
