E is for Evelyn Eaton

Eis for Evelyn Eaton!

For this year's A to Z I'm featuring books I've read based on the Reading Challenge.

Today's book is one set in a different country. Of course I've read lots of books set in North America, Australia, Europe and Asia (but only a handful from South America!), yet when I saw this category, one of the first that leapt to mind was Evelyn Eaton.

I found out about Eaton through her granddaughter, author Marte Brengle. Eaton was born in Switzerland (yay!) to Canadian parents (yay!) and later moved to the United States. She wrote quite a few books, but so far I've only read Go Ask the River.


"The haunting story of the great female poet Hung Tu, who flourished in the ninth century during one of the great periods of Chinese literature. The daughter of a Government official far from the capital, on the Silk River, she was, most unusually, brought up with her brothers, whom she far outshone. Falling on evil times, her father sells her to the best Blue House on the Silk River.

Hung Tu's poetry and calligraphy bring her great renown, and the story traces her rise from Flower-in-the-Mist to Official Hostess at the court of the governors of the Silk City, and her love affair with the poet Yuan Chen. Set against the backdrop of the scholars, poets, officials, and warring factions of ninth century China, this wonderful story reconstructs one of the great periods of China - turbulent, cruel, yet with a sense of beauty remarkable by any standards and in any age. Go Ask the River is a tale not only of historical China, but of the human struggle to discover how to be alive." (description from Amazon)

I'd recommend this book to everyone. It truly is haunting, and both simply and beautifully told. I also have a copy of Eaton's Every Month Was May - I think I'll move it up the To Read pile!

And now... A shout-out to all our A to Z Challenge hosts:
Thank you for hosting and helping us!


Which countries have you read books from?
Are you managing to keep up with the A to Z?
I'm reading a lot but don't always have time to comment...

Comments

Trisha said…
Aww, poor US didn't get a YAY! :P

She reminds me of the fact that I was born in the UK (yay!) to New Zealander parents (yay!) and live in Australia. meh. hehe ;)

Sounds like a wonderful book. I read a Japanese book (in English translation) a few years back that was definitely HAUNTING. It was also horrible, according to my mum at least after she read it on my recommendation ;) But I found it absolutely beautiful, at the same time as being haunting. It was called GROTESQUE.

I haven't read any Evelyn Eaton.
Chrys Fey said…
Haha! I was going to say the same thing as Trisha and asked about the missing YAY for the US. lol

Evelyn is a new author to me. Seems that you're so much more well-read than I am. ;)
Stephanie Bird said…
This book sounds intriguing. Am finding that through A to Z, I am learning about so many new books and authors and putting them on my to-read list. Yours is definitely one of them I'll look for. Thanks!
First time I've heard of her.
And thanks, the co-hosts are trying our best.
Hi Deniz .. I haven't heard of Evelyn Eaton - but she'll be on the list. You do read loads and obviously take all the stories in ..

I'm Yay for English from English parents living in England! So British it's almost untrue!

A-Z going along very well and the co-hosts are doing great jobs ... Cheers to you - Hilary
J.L. Campbell said…
This is a new author to me, Deniz.
Thanks for the intro and the shout out.
Deniz Bevan said…
Thanks all!
Aww, I feel badly now. The US didn't get a yay only because we haven't lived there yet :-)

I'll have to look up GROTESQUE...
sage said…
This book is going on my TBR list... Rivers and other cultures are two compiling topics. I often read books of places I'm traveling (and I have a life-long obsession with rivers). I've even thought about putting together a review of books from authors of each of the US states (and we could add Canadian Providences).
Deniz Bevan said…
Great idea, sage! I tried it once but maybe it's time for an update...
http://thegirdleofmelian.blogspot.ch/2013/07/iwsg-new-round-of-row80-canadian-books.html