Yan Lianke has secured his place as contemporary China's most essential
and daring novelist, "with his superlative gifts for storytelling and
penetrating eye for truth" (New York Times Book Review). His novel,
The Day the Sun Died--winner of the Dream of the Red Chamber Award,
one of the most prestigious honors for Chinese-language novels--is a
haunting story of a town caught in a waking nightmare.
In a little village nestled in the Balou mountains, fourteen-year-old Li
Niannian and his parents run a funeral parlor. One evening, he notices a
strange occurrence. Instead of preparing for bed, more and more
neighbors appear in the streets and fields, carrying on with their daily
business as if the sun hadn't already set. Li Niannian watches,
mystified. As hundreds of residents are found dreamwalking, they act out
the desires they've suppressed during waking hours. Before long, the
community devolves into chaos, and it's up to Li Niannian and his
parents to save the town before sunrise.
Set over the course of one increasingly bizarre night, The Day the Sun
Died is a propulsive, darkly sinister tale from a world-class writer.
