E is for Evelyn Eaton
is 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.
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!
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
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.
Evelyn is a new author to me. Seems that you're so much more well-read than I am. ;)
And thanks, the co-hosts are trying our best.
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
Thanks for the intro and the shout out.
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...
http://thegirdleofmelian.blogspot.ch/2013/07/iwsg-new-round-of-row80-canadian-books.html