The Incarnations

"An extraordinary novel. Erudite, intriguing and compulsively readable, The Incarnations takes the reader on an intimate and mesmerizing journey through Chinese history. Susan Barker, a born story-teller, has written one of the most remarkable novels of recent years". (John Boyne). It is 2008, the Olympics are coming to Beijing, but as taxi driver Wang circles the city's congested streets, he feels barely alive. His daily grind is suddenly interrupted when he finds a series of letters in the sunshade of his cab. Someone is watching him. Someone who claims to be his soulmate for over a thousand years of past lives. With each letter Wang is drawn back in time: to a spirit-bride in the Tang Dynasty; to young slaves in the Mongol invasion; to plotting concubines; to a kidnapping in the Opium War; and to Red Guards and revolution. And with each letter, Wang feels the watcher in the shadows growing closer...Sweeping between China past and present, The Incarnations shows how man is condemned to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. It is a stunning story of the cycle of life.