Taiwan Travelogue Yáng Shuang-zi Lin King (translation) by Yáng Shuang-zi, Lin King (translation) 9781644453155, 9781644453162, 1644453150, 1644453169 instant download after payment.

A bittersweet story of love between two women, nested in an artful exploration of language, history, & power May 1938

The young novelist Aoyama Chizuko has sailed from her home in Nagasaki, Japan, & arrived in Taiwan. She’s been invited there by the Japanese government ruling the island, though she has no interest in their official banquets or imperialist agenda. Instead, Chizuko longs to experience real island life & to taste as much of its authentic cuisine as her famously monstrous appetite can bear.

Soon a Taiwanese woman—who is younger even than she is, & who shares the characters of her name—is hired as her interpreter & makes her dreams come true. The charming, erudite, meticulous Chizuru arranges Chizuko’s travels all over the Land of the South & also proves to be an exceptional cook. Over scenic train rides & braised pork rice, lively banter and winter melon tea, Chizuko grows infatuated with her companion & intent on drawing her closer. But something causes Chizuru to keep her distance. It’s only after a heartbreaking separation that Chizuko begins to grasp what the “something” is.

Disguised as a translation of a rediscovered text by a Japanese writer, this novel was a sensation on its first publication in Mandarin Chinese in 2020 & won Taiwan’s highest literary honor, the Golden Tripod Award. Taiwan Travelogue unburies lost colonial histories & deftly reveals how power dynamics inflect our most intimate relationships.

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Yáng Shuāng-zǐ (real name: Yang Jo-tzu) is a writer of fiction, essays, manga & video game scripts, & literary criticism. “Shuang-zi” is a pen name meaning “twins.” Before her twin sister & co-author Jo-hui died at age 26 from breast cancer, Jo-tzu promised her that she would finish the novel they started together.