Award-winning short stories and novella by Megan Lee.
The short story, "An Eye in the Wall" was first published in The Porter Gulch Review's Spring 2005 edition. "The Sea" won a 1st Place award for Adult Prose presented by poet Billy Collins in the 5th Annual Poetry, Prose & Arts Festival in Pleasanton, CA in April 2006. "Chinese Lesson" and "The Sea" were first published in 2006 in The Homestead Review.
Cover design by Karen Cruz, 2013.
The stories take place in and near Xiamen University in Fujian Province, China. The stories and themes are linked, as are the characters, who appear in one as a protagonist and in another as a peripheral character. The points of view shift from Chinese to Westerners, looking in and looking out at each other through the cultural wall that is China.
Table of Contents:
Prologue - "The Egret" - the bird of Gulangyu Island
"Chinese Lesson" - a foreign language student at Xiamen University witnesses an execution convoy
"An Eye in the Wall" - a young boy's naked body washes up on the beach
"Good Sam" - a good Samaritan tries to save a beggar's life
"The Sea" - a prisoner's last day
"Seat Number Forty-Four" (a novella) - an old woman from a village in Jiaomei encounters a teenage runaway on a long-distance bus.