
Original title:
茧
Original language:
Simplified Chinese
Publication info:
People's Literature Publishing House
July 2016
424 pages
Genre:
Upmarket literary thriller
Rights handled by New River:
Foreign rights excl. Taiwan, Korea
Rights sold:
France (Zulma)
Korea (Mirae N)
the Netherlands (Prometheus)
Russia (Phantom Press)
Taiwan (INK)
WEL (World Editions)
(France, Zulma)
Cocoon
by Zhang Yueran
A long heart-felt conversation between two friends, who grew up together on the campus of a medical school in a provincial capital in the 1980s. An intimate moment, leading to the long-due expression of untold feelings, but also patching together their family stories, tragically intertwined and deeply troubled by an unsolved crime during the Culture Revolution. On that rainy night in 1967, what happened in the deserted water tower on the campus? How did a nail lead to the completely different destinies of the two families?
As the conversation continues, will the long-buried story of the grandparents of the two narrators, one a highly respected academician, the other a vegetable lying on the hospital bed for decades, finally be unravelled? An upmarket literary thriller, Cocoon delves into the complexity of a crime set in one of the most chaotic years of contemporary China. We hold our breath as the protagonists embark on a tortuous journey towards catharsis, revealing a longing for reconciliation still at odds with China’s troubled relationship with its own past.
About the author
Born in 1982, Zhang Yueran is one of China's most influential young writers. She has published two short story collections: Sunflower Missing In 1890 (2003) and Ten Loves (2004), and four novels: Distant Cherry (2004), Narcissus (2005), The Promise Bird (2006), and Cocoon (2016).
Her short story collection Ten Loves was long-listed for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award in 2014. She has been the chief editor of Newriting since 2008 and teaches literature and creative writing at Renmin University.