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Four Treasures of the Sky: A Novel Kindle Edition

4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 1,174 ratings

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK · A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITOR'S CHOICE · REVIEWED ON THE FRONT COVER · INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

“Zhang’s blend of history and magical realism will appeal to fans of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ The Water Dancer as well as Amy Tan's The Valley of Amazement.” —Booklist (starred review)

"Engrossing...Epic" (
The New York Times Book Review) · "Transporting" (Washington Post) · "Propulsive" (Oprah Daily) · "Surreal and sprawling" (NPR) · "An absolute must-read" (BuzzFeed) · "Radiant" (BookPage)

A dazzling debut novel set against the backdrop of the Chinese Exclusion Act, about a Chinese girl fighting to claim her place in the 1880s American West

Daiyu never wanted to be like the tragic heroine for whom she was named, revered for her beauty and cursed with heartbreak. But when she is kidnapped and smuggled across an ocean from China to America, Daiyu must relinquish the home and future she imagined for herself. Over the years that follow, she is forced to keep reinventing herself to survive. From a calligraphy school, to a San Francisco brothel, to a shop tucked into the Idaho mountains, we follow Daiyu on a desperate quest to outrun the tragedy that chases her. As anti-Chinese sentiment sweeps across the country in a wave of unimaginable violence, Daiyu must draw on each of the selves she has been—including the ones she most wants to leave behind—in order to finally claim her own name and story.

At once a literary tour de force and a groundbreaking work of historical fiction,
Four Treasures of the Sky announces Jenny Tinghui Zhang as an indelible new voice. Steeped in untold history and Chinese folklore, this novel is a spellbinding feat.

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Popular Highlights in this book

From the Publisher

Four Treasures of the Sky Jenny Tinghui Zhang Ann Patchett quote
Four Treasures of the Sky Jenny Tinghui Zhang Megha Majumdar quote
Four Treasures of the Sky Jenny Tinghui Zhang Anna North quote

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An Amazon Best Book of April 2022: Impossible to put down, Four Treasures of the Sky is a heartbreaking and utterly absorbing story of a young girl stolen from her rural home in China and brought to America where she is made to be someone she isn’t: a whore, a man, and an orphan. Forced into a life of hiding and being on the run, Daiyu clashes with the 1880’s American West where danger lurks at every turn—whether from the racist rhetoric of the Chinese Exclusionary Act or the men that chase her—as she tries desperately to return home and find her parents. Sweeping and magnetic, Four Treasures of the Sky is both an epic work of fiction and a devastating portrait of how a young Chinese woman endures amidst a world she cannot trust. —Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor

Review

"Jenny Tinghui Zhang uses her considerable talents to illuminate the shocking injustices the Chinese in this country suffered in the 1800s, and in doing so, makes us stop and consider how much of that cruelty and injustice survive to this day. Four Treasures of the Sky is an engulfing, bighearted, and heartbreaking novel."
--Ann Patchett, author of
The Dutch House

"An astonishing novel propelled by private and public histories, rich with reflections on self-making, moral calling, great love, and profound injustice. Jenny Tinghui Zhang's writing enthralled me--it is as honed as a needle and as gorgeous as calligraphy."
--Megha Majumdar, author of
A Burning

"An exhilarating rush of character, history, and storytelling. This novel of the American West illuminates the horrific realities of the Chinese Exclusion act of the 1880s. With unforgettable characters, resiliency, and poetic lyricism, Jenny Tinghui Zhang takes her readers on an unforgettable adventure. This carefully researched novel dazzles."
--Kali Fajardo-Anstine, author of
Sabrina & Corina

"Brilliant and devastating, Four Treasures of the Sky tells the story of Daiyu, who is brought to America against her will and forced to hide who she is even as she grows into her true self. Weaving together myth and history, Zhang's work is both timeless and utterly necessary right now."
--Anna North, author of
Outlawed

"In
a sweeping adventure that spans China and the American West, Jenny Tinghui Zhang has crafted a thoughtful story of identity, love, and belonging."
--C Pam Zhang, author of
How Much of These Hills Is Gold

"A revelation and a haunting, Four Treasures of the Sky is an instant and necessary classic, easily among the best novels of this decade. Jenny Tinghui Zhang is a sorcerer of words, weaving adventure, a fully realized history, and a story that lingers long after its final images. A true wonder."
--T Kira Madden, author of
Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls

"Jenny Tinghui Zhang captures the adventure, the isolation, the violence, and the glittering hope of the American West. The author's fine attention to historical and human detail has allowed her to bring alive a heroine for the ages, an indomitable teenage girl whose relentless spirit and self-reinvention carries this story. Daiyu is sure to take her place in the canon of great Western heroines next to True Grit's Mattie Ross."
--Juliet Grames, author of
The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna

"To say Four Treasures of the Sky is unflinching doesn't do justice to the miraculous way in which Jenny Tinghui Zhang paints a neglected chapter in American history with sharp and devastating brushstrokes. This book is haunting, luscious, and precise--it's historical fiction as we most want and need it to be."
--Julia Fine, author of
The Upstairs House and What Should Be Wild

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08PSDCR4L
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Flatiron Books (April 5, 2022)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 5, 2022
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1803 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 321 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 1,174 ratings

About the author

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Jenny Tinghui Zhang
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Jenny Tinghui Zhang is a Texas-based Chinese-American writer who holds an MFA in nonfiction from the University of Wyoming (where she wrote the popular Catapult column Why-oming) and is an alumna of the 2016 VONA/Voices, Tin House Summer 2019 & Winter 2020 Workshops. Jenny is a prose editor at Adroit Journal and has written nonfiction for The Cut, Bustle, Huffington Post, and HelloGiggles; her fiction has appeared in Ninth Letter, Passages North, CALYX, The Rumpus, and more.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
1,174 global ratings
Life Struggles of Foreigners in America
5 Stars
Life Struggles of Foreigners in America
Jenny Tinghui Zhang has succeeded in her debut historical novel to thrust you into the life of Daiyu where you will feel unlike you have ever felt. In the two days that I read this account based on truths, it engulfed me to the point of dreaming about the story. You will cringe at her treatment, simultaneously feel empathy and rage, and grow a backbone of courage as you want to protect and defend innocent Daiyu.
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Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2024
I learned so much!
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2023
I was gripped from the first pages by the philosophy that guides calligraphy, a motif that continues throughout the novel and helps create for the protagonist Daiyu a "unity between the person you are and the person you could be."
This story is a bildungsroman, a 19th-century Chinese girl's journey into adulthood, and her struggle to become the best person she can be at a time when being a girl was a burden in itself. (And still is.)
When disaster strikes and she is kidnapped, she is dispatched to San Francisco and into a new world of suffering and growth. She is not alone. She is inhabited by a tragic ghost with the same name, while she inhabits a series of false names--Feng, Peony, and Jacob--each one demanding that she disguise the self that her loving parents named Daiyu.
The writing is persuasive and lyrical and Daiyu's account of learning English is exquisite, but the narrative does sometimes threaten to overwhelm the reader's ability to suspend disbelief. For example, for several days, Daiyu maintains her male persona in a jail cell with four men and an open bucket.
Despite the protagonist's ongoing cross-dressing which doesn't always ring true, I recommend this tale not only for its artistry but also for its searing "teaching moments" about historical and contemporary prejudice.
3 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2024
Even though this book is a sad read our book club was happy that we took it on.
Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2023
Writing is beautiful. The story is too sad. I wish for a more positive story. I am tired of tragic Chinese stories.
One person found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2024
I really liked this book and looked forward to reading each night. I connected with the main character and was happy when she was happy and sad when she was sad. I could imagine her life and journey, and although I wish it would have ended different, I appreciate that not every story can have a “perfect” ending.
Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2024
This is a powerful, terrifying, beautiful novel. I loved reading it. We MUST find ways to end xenophobia and appreciate diversity.
Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2022
This book kept my interest. Good story. I am getting a little tired of reading about women who pose as men though. Which I guess must be my fault for chosing the books, although I didn’t know she would pose as a male for nearly the whole book. Didn’t like the ending, of course, though I’m sure it is accurate for the time and place.
8 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2023
I will start by saying this book is absolutely phenomenal. However, it is not for the feint of heart. It is painful, sickening, and tragic as it reflects the times of the Chinese Exclusionary Act and how horrifically Chinese Americans were treated. I can’t recommend this book highly enough to readers who are fully prepared to feel sick to their stomach with heartbreak. This book does not pull punches or sugar coat this monstrous and appalling time in history. This is what it was like and I think it’s important for these stories to be told. It is an incredible read. I will be looking out for more from this author.
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

raven bleskie
5.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreaking and beautiful
Reviewed in Canada on September 23, 2022
I couldn't put it down. I'd start a chapter and next thing I knew it was two hours later. I was so invested in Daiyu's story. This book is NOT CHILL. Extreme racism, sexual assault, and violence throughout. I loved the way this was written though. Through heartbreak it was written beautifully.
One person found this helpful
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Lucas
2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting idea but disappointing story
Reviewed in Germany on April 13, 2023
The beginning of the story is completing but overall the book fails to deliver. Some parts of the book are quite boring, some are very cliché and the ending ... Well it's like the author didn't know themselves how to end the story. Lots of misery, luck of character development. Lots of description about violence towards Chinese in the 19th century US without much context or some elaboration about the reasons. Not a single good non-Chinese character, all US citizens are just plain evil.
(Spoiler)
What was bugging me the whole time is how the main character pretended to be a boy/man and wasn't discovered by the people around even when locked up with them in the same jail cell with the common bucket. Really?
DOUGLAS L GOLD
4.0 out of 5 stars PAY NO HEED TO CHARLOTTE'S REVIEW
Reviewed in Canada on May 7, 2022
This book tells the story of Chinese women and men in the latter part of the 19th century. It is beautifully written. The old girl posing as boy is a little worn. Look beyond the cliche, feel the pain, enjoy this first fiction. It's magnificent
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