John Pomfret’s—Chinese Lessons*****

John Pomfret’s—Chinese Lessons*****

After Mao’s brutal reign, Pomfret arrives in China at the beginning of the 1980s to attend Nanjing University when China first began opening to the west. In cramped living quarters with other students from different parts of China, the author gains detailed access to the lives of his classmates and how they and their families endured the cultural revolution. Pomfret graduates and his only wish is to return. As a reporter he arrives back in China, but when he reports on the Tiananmen Square massacre, he is expelled from the country. All the while, he keeps in contact with his university classmates and follows the direction of their lives that reveals the economic changes happening in a system still corrupt, censored, and controlled by the Party that silences anyone who opposes it.

Omar El Akkad’s—What strange paradise *****

Omar El Akkad’s—What strange paradise *****

Amir’s uncle accompanies his family from Syria to Alexandria. But late one night, Amir creeps out of their apartment and follows his uncle who climbs on to a boat. He too ends up on the boat full of desperate passengers fleeing their homes. After Amir is washed ashore on a strange island, he flees the scene chased by soldiers. Vanna, a local teenager, sees him dashing towards her and hides him in their hayloft. But can she protect him from Colonel Kethros who is determined to detain the child in the camp with the rest of the refugees who have washed up on the island?

Sue Lynn Tan’s—Daughter of the Moon Goddess*****

Sue Lynn Tan’s—Daughter of the Moon Goddess*****

Xingyin lives a contented but isolated childhood with her mother, the Moon Goddess who is forbidden to leave her domain. But after Xingyin experiments with magic lights around her, the Celestial Empress visits accusing her mother of trying to escape from her imprisonment. Fearing her daughter will be discovered, she instructs Xingyin under the protection of Ping’er, to hide in the Southern Sea with Ping’er’s family. During the journey, they are attacked by Celestial soldiers and the pair are separated. Alone, Xingyin must forge a new life in the Celestial Kingdom in the hope that she can free her mother from the chains of her isolation.