Tiananmen Square: 'Extraordinary' William Boyd

'An extraordinary book. Truly important' William Boyd'Outstanding ... Intimate as well as epic' Sunday Times'Poignant and powerful' Daily Mail'Utterly gripping' The Spectator'Beautiful and devastating' Irish NewsSunday Times Best Summer Reads 2024Longlisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award 2025Shortlisted in the British Book Awards 2025A STORY OF UNBREAKABLE FRIENDSHIP AND THE PRICE OF FREEDOMBeijing in the 1970s. Lai lives with her parents, grandmother and youngerbrother in a small flat in a working-class area. Her grandmother is a formidable figure, while her ageing beauty of a mother snipes at her father, a sunken figure haunted by the Cultural Revolution. As she grows up, Lai comes to discern the realities of the country she lives in. But she also goes through the ebbs and flows of friendships; troubles and rewards at home and at school; and the first steps and missteps in love. A gifted student, she attends the prestigious Peking University; while there she becomes involved in the student protests that have been gathering speed. It is the late 1980s, and change is in the air . . . 5 STAR READER REVIEWS‘Captivating, intimate and so moving, I finished it in tears’‘Wow! This was a stunning novel’‘Probably one of the most memorable, poignant, emotional books I've ever read … This will crawl for a while under my skin. Can I give a 6th star?’‘A brilliant and important read’‘Beautifully written. I read it slowly as I wanted to savour every word’‘There is something so deeply touching, tender yet powerful in the writing … This coming-of-age story is compelling, haunting, emotive and written beautifully. By the end, it left me in tears. It is a book I will long remember’

‘A remarkable autobiographical novel …. intimate as well as epic, turning her book from a key testimony of a historic tragedy into a work of finely wrought fiction … she got it perfect first time’ Sunday Times

‘In a work of fiction that feels like a memoir, Tiananmen Square is a beautiful and devastating read … I can’t stop thinking about it’ - Prudence Wade, Irish News

''Captivating … an utterly gripping book, and a must for prize shortlists'' - Leyla Sanai, The Spectator

''An extraordinary book. Truly important'' - William Boyd

‘A touching story of Tiananmen memory, just like a fireside whisper with love and tears. Lai Wen is a brilliant storyteller’ - Xinran

‘Acute and intimate’ - Bookseller

‘This tender, autobiographical coming-of-age tale … poignant and powerful’ - Daily Mail

''Tiananmen Square is a deeply humane account of a horrific act of state violence that the Chinese authorities have attempted to erase from history. As well as being a compelling coming-of-age tale, it’s a powerful act of remembrance'' - Lucy Popescu, Financial Times

‘Remarkable … exquisite coming-of-age novel … Wen displays the same patience, precision and calm intelligence as Ferrante as she stitches together her tapestry of female relationships, falling in love and coming into political awareness … Her beautifully impassioned book lets you feel how that extraordinary historic moment was made up of thousands upon thousands of ordinary people just like her. It is one of the many achievements of this outstanding work’ - Robert Collins, Sunday Times

''Intimate yet epic ... fantastic coming-of-age novel ... powerful and harrowing'' - Sunday Times, Best Summer Reads

''Tiananmen Square, with its lush melancholy, will be praised. It provides an understanding of China during a crucial period, through which one can start exploring the dazzling, distressing, but frequently humorous array that is that country’s literature and history’ - Mei Chin, Irish Times

‘Wen speaks to what’s universal within us all … I still feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise as I think of how Wen takes the book to completion, creating one of the most powerful, unforgettable, endings in 21st century fiction’ - Alastair Mabbott, The Herald

''Friendship, family secrets, young love, and loss mingle with political activism in desperate times in Lai Wen’s brilliant Tiananmen Square, a novel that reveals truths about the past, a lens through which to view the present, and a warning shot for the future. Wen carries the weight of this pivotal point in history with astonishing grace and finesse'' - Meg Waite Clayton, New York Times bestselling author of The Postmistress of Paris and The Last Train to London

''Incredibly powerful and moving … feels like a love letter to innocence, to hope, to freedom … An eloquent and penetrating coming-of-age novel’ - LoveReading, Star Book Award

''Debut author Lai (a necessary pseudonym, given Beijing’s continued hostility to critics of the 1989 crackdown) writes with candor and vulnerability as personal and social anxieties blur into political unrest. In its unabashed affection for twentieth-century classics, this tale also reminds us that literature remains a vital means of resistance to anti-democratic forces'' - Booklist Starred Review

''An attempt to remember an adolescence before the author begins to forget … “There is no benefit to remembering, so why bother?” Tiananmen Square offers one simple answer: because it happened, because we were there'' - Rebecca F. Kuang

''An extraordinary book. Truly important'' William Boyd

''Outstanding ... Intimate as well as epic'' Sunday Times

''Poignant and powerful'' Daily Mail

''Utterly gripping'' The Spectator

''Beautiful and devastating'' Irish News

Sunday Times Best Summer Reads 2024

Longlisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award 2025

Shortlisted in the British Book Awards 2025

A stunning, deeply moving novel about growing up in Beijing in the 1970s and 80s and taking part in Tiananmen Square protests

It is Beijing in the 1970s, and Lai lives with her parents, grandmother and younger brother in a small flat in a working-class area. Her grandmother is a formidable figure – no-nonsense and uncompromising, but loving towards her granddaughter – while her ageing beauty of a mother snipes at her father, a sunken figure who has taken refuge in his work.

As she grows up, Lai comes to discern the realities of the country she lives is: an early encounter with the police haunts her for years; her father makes her see that his quietness is a reaction to experiences he has lived through; and an old bookseller subtly introduces her to ideas and novels that open her mind to different perspectives. But she also goes through what anyone goes through when young – the ebbs and flows of friendships; troubles and rewards at home and at school; and the first steps and missteps in love.

A gifted student, she is eventually given a scholarship to study at the prestigious Peking University; while there she meets new friends, and starts to get involved in the student protests that have been gathering speed. It is the late 1980s, and change is in the air...

A truly remarkable novel about coming to see the world as it is, Tiananmen Square is the story of one girl’s life growing up in the China of the 1970s and 80s, as well as the story of the events in 1989 that give the novel its name: the hope and idealism of a generation of young students, their heroism and courage, and the price that some of them paid.

5 STAR READER REVIEWS

‘Captivating, intimate and so moving, I finished it in tears’

‘Wow! This was a stunning novel’

‘Probably one of the most memorable, poignant, emotional books I''ve ever read … This will crawl for a while under my skin. Can I give a 6th star?’

‘A brilliant and important read’

‘Beautifully written. I read it slowly as I wanted to savour every word’

‘There is something so deeply touching, tender yet powerful in the writing … This coming-of-age story is compelling, haunting, emotive and written beautifully. By the end, it left me in tears. It is a book I will long remember’

• | Author: Lai Wen
• | Publisher: Swift Press
• | Publication Date: Jun 04, 2024
• | Number of Pages:
• | Language:
• | Binding: Hardback
• | ISBN-13: 9781800753464
• | ISBN-10: 1800753462