Book Review: The Library of Legends by Janie Chang

The Library of Legends
by Janie Chang (ebook)

 

This book of historical fiction shows the journey of a thousand miles from Minghua University to western China. The book takes place in 1937, when students, faculty, and staff walked through harsh conditions to escape the dangers of aerial attacks from Japanese bombs. While saving their lives, they also carried a the Library of Legends, which was a collection of over a hundred books chronicling the myths they believed. Each student and staff member was responsible for carrying one of the five hundred year-old texts, and their studies took place on the road while they walked.

 

Lian, the narrator, realizes she is witnessing first-hand one tale from the Library of Legends: The Willow Star and the Prince. The storytelling within the novel is one of the stories that braid into the novel itself. It is based on true events.

 

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman, The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng or Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie.]

 

[ official The Library of Legends page on the official Janie Chang web site ]

 

Recommended by Jodi R.
Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries

 

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