Susan Barker

"Hailed as "China's Midnight's Children," a gripping new novel about a Beijing taxi driver whose past incarnations haunt him through searing letters sent by his mysterious soulmate"--

A Novel

The Incarnations

Siya S

3.5 Stars. It's not bad at all ... I kind of like it, in fact. But damn I read David Mitchell's Ghostwritten earlier this year, so unfortunately this one seems to be a bit like a stepback for my reading journey. This one's like a cat compared to Mitchell's white tiger of a work. 

I love the suspense of the main storyline and the way things unfold at the end, though. The revelation was pretty great (unexpected) too. If you plan to read some epic tales of intertwining fate and souls and connection of lives, I see this as a great introduction to such novels. This and (if you find it fascinating) then you'll be ready for Cloud Atlas for sure.

'Mesmerising storytelling' New York Times A New York Time Notable book of the year 2015 SHORTLISTED FOR THE KIRKUS REVIEW PRIZE 2015 '[A] kaleidoscopically imaginative novelâe¦Barker stitches together an unnervingly perceptive portrait of China and of the enduring influence that its past has on the present' The New Yorker 'A thrilling journey through a thousand years of obsession and betrayal, this is the most extraordinary work of imagination you'll read all year' ADAM JOHNSON, Winner of the PULITZER Prize for Fiction 2013 'An extraordinary novel. Erudite, intriguing and compulsively readable, Susan Barker, a born story-teller, has written one of the most remarkable novels of recent years' JOHN BOYNE 'A brilliant, mind-expanding, and wildly original novel' CHRIS CLEAVE 'What a ferociously talented writer Susan Barker is. The Incarnations is a hallucinatory ride. Highly recommend' ANNA HOPE Beijing, 2008, the Olympics are coming, but as taxi driver Wang circles the cityâe(tm)s congested streets, he feels barely alive. His daily grind is suddenly interrupted when he finds a letter in the sunshade of his cab. Someone is watching him. Someone who claims to be his soulmate and to have known him for over a thousand years. Other letters follow, taking Wang back in time: to a spirit-bride in the Tang Dynasty; to young slaves during the Mongol invasion; to concubines plotting to kill the emperor; to a kidnapping in the Opium War; and to Red Guards during the Cultural revolution. And with each letter, Wang feels the watcher in the shadows growing closer âe¦

The Incarnations A Novel

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