Ripple on Stagnant Water, A Novel of Sichuan in the Age of Treaty Ports, by Li Jieren, translated by Bret Sparling and Yin Chi.

In the small market town of Heaven’s Turn on the Chengdu Plain, a simple-minded shopkeeper has married a beautiful village girl who is determined to rise above her station. Li Jieren’s novel is populated with gangsters, prostitutes, farmers, dilettantes, bureaucrats and Christian converts, all drawn from the author’s familiar acquaintance.

Merwin Asia, due Sept 2012, distributed by University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-1-937385-25-5 // ISBN 978-1-937385-24-8