The Sea of Trees [Hardcover]

Yannick Murphy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 14, 1997

In her haunting first novel, Yannick Murphy surveys the landscape of imperialism through the unflinching gaze of an adolescent girl. Set in Indochina in the 1940s - well before American intervention - in the territory that is now Vietnam, it is narrated by the clear-eyed Tian, daughter of a French mother and Chinese father, who is taken prisoner when the Japanese invade Shanghai. The camp is a nightmarish place, where horror sometimes slips surrealistically into comedy as the prisoners watch for liberators to cross the sea of trees that separates them from freedom. Here it is women who become Tian's first allies, especially her passionate young mother and wily amah, who instill pluck, pragmatism, and an unbending will to survive. In a voice that rings with the startling frankness of youth, The Sea of Trees combines imagery both raw and beautiful. Based on stories from the author's own family history and laced with Chinese folklore, it adds a distinctly female contour to the map of empi

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In the compelling voice of the elder daughter of an aristocratic Frenchwoman and a Chinese military officer, first novelist Murphy tells of a time (the 1940s) and a place (Indochina) peopled by men with clashing political goals and the women and children who lived through the ensuing horrors of war and refugee life. When we meet Tian at 12, she is practical and precocious, traits that serve her well in the coming years as she and her family are imprisoned by the Japanese, find themselves stranded in Saigon at the end of World War II, and eventually make their way to France and then New York. The adults in Tian's life are strong and reckless: she witnesses her father's midnight visits to her jealous mother while they are held in the Japanese prison camp; years later, she tracks her mother to the French consulate in Saigon, where the typhoid-fevered woman has been spending each day awaiting news of her missing husband. Through the years and across continents, Tian plies the trade she honed in the prison camp, translating for the invading army. She is not corrupted by this compromise, however, but remains authentic and caring. This inspiring view of the unvanquished human soul belongs in all collections.?Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Christianne, daughter of a French mother and a Chinese father, is the unflinching narrator of this first novel set during and immediately following World War II. When we first meet Tian, she is approximately 10 years old and, along with her mother and newborn sister, is in a Japanese prison camp in Indochina. At war's end, Tian and her family go home to Shanghai, only to find themselves embroiled in the fighting between the Nationalist Chinese and the insurgent Communists. Hoping futilely for peace and news of Tian's father, who has disappeared in China while fighting with the Nationalist army, the women return to Saigon. When the growing tension between the French and the Vietnamese explodes into violence, the family travels on to France. There, Tian continues her interrupted adolescence, meets and marries an American student, and moves to the U.S. with her husband and mother. Tian's experiences are related in a stoic monotone, almost matter-of-factly, as befits a little girl who is determined to survive despite being forced into adulthood by the brutalities of war. Nancy Pearl

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 227 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (May 14, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395850126
• ISBN-13: 978-0395850121
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,790,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down, August 25, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sea of Trees (Hardcover)

I was very excited to find another book by Ms. Murphy, having enjoyed her "Stories in another language" years ago. Sea of Trees is a story told by a young lady while she is asleep and while she is awake. Sometimes it's hard to tell which is which. This is what makes the book hard to put down. I know I've made a good choice when I read a book that makes me keep asking what will happen now, will they survive, will she be alright? Ms. Murphy has yet to show all her writing talents. Can't wait for the next book