Passing Under Heaven C [Hardcover]

Hill Justin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 19, 2004

In the last years of the Tang Dynasty, a beautiful girl is born in a fort along the Great Wall of China, and is set to become the most famous and celebrated courtesan of her age. Set in the 9th century, Passing Under Heaven tells the tragic love story of Lily, a Chinese poet and documents a time when Chinese women enjoyed a window of unprecedented personal freedom - including the freedom to fall in love. But when Lily pushes that freedom to its limits disaster ensues, leaving her child and husband to forever mourn her loss. Based on historical fact, Passing Under Heaven is more than the story of the end of a love affair, this book also chronicles the passing of the Chinese golden age into civil war and ruin.

Editorial Reviews

Review

For CIAO ASMARA 'The book is a love letter to the country he had to leave ...when the senseless war reignited ... The tone is low-key, but the story is anything but that: a brief and beautiful moment of calm in between storms' Sunday Times 'Hill is a great and passionate storyteller, and his account is both readable and important' Independent on Sunday

About the Author

Justin Hill lived and taught in China for four years. He turned his experiences there into The Drink and Dream Tea House and A Bend in the Yellow River.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Abacus (August 19, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 034911739X
• ISBN-13: 978-0349117393
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,888,756 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Passing Under Heaven, March 26, 2006

By 

Katherine Long (Trinidad&Tobago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Passing Under Heaven (Paperback)

Lily has found love and security as a child which she feels entitled to as an adult. Her husband's infidelity which is only seen in her eyes, has devastated her beyond reason. Her poetry is a way of showing life, the pain of it and the underlying calm of it. Lily is determined and full of strength but is this part of her downfall, her pride? The passions in this book grip the reader with such an intensity that when you have finished reading this book you will sit and stare and wonder because it will all seem so real that it is hard to walk away.......

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I will never sell my copy of this book, November 8, 2005

By 

Kartini D. H. Ismail "ten787" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Passing Under Heaven C (Hardcover)

If I have to describe the book in one word, it would be "awesome". Justin Hill was so brilliant that when you read this book, you can feel the pain that each character felt. It was literally like watching a movie. I really wish somebody would make this into a film. It took me two days to finish the whole book. I just couldn't put it down.

The story evolves around the life of a girl called Little Flower who grow up to be Concudine Yu. She was also one of China's greatest female poet. it depicts the chinese culture and way of life in the 800-900 AD brilliantly.