An award-winning novel from an international rising star - spanning ancient and modern China - in the dazzlingly inventive style of Haruki Murakami and Kaliane Bradley
'Lu has a brilliant mind for style, language, pace and ideas, and this is a funny and fascinating book that I can't wait to read again and again.' Guardian
'I was mesmerised the moment I opened this book.' Bora Chung, International Booker shortlisted author of Cursed Bunny
Inspired by the vacant, uninhabited megacities of China, Ghost Cities follows multiple narratives, including one in which a young man named Xiang is fired from his job as a translator at Sydney's Chinese Consulate after it is discovered he doesn't speak a word of Chinese and has been relying entirely on Google Translate for his work. The incident goes viral under the hashtag #BadChinese and attracts the attention of the eccentric film director Baby Bao, who uses Lu to attract press for his latest film. Bao's movie, based on ancient legends, is to be filmed in one of China's "ghost cities".
How is his relocation to a ghost city connected to a parallel odyssey in which an ancient Emperor creates a thousand doubles of Himself? Or where a horny mountain gains sentience? Where a chess-playing automaton hides a deadly secret? Or a tale in which every book in the known Empire is destroyed-then recreated, page by page and book by book-all in the name of love and art?
'Siang Lu layers myth and reality into a marvelous structure. This is bold, inventive storytelling, a novel full of ideas that never loses its heart.' Charles Yu, US National Book Award-winning author of Interior Chinatown
| ISBN: | 9781398559875 |
| Publication date: | 13th August 2026 |
| Author: | Siang Lu |
| Publisher: | Summit Books UK |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 304 pages |
| Genres: |
Modern and Contemporary Fiction Magical realism Myths and Legends / Mythic fiction Humorous Fiction General Fiction |
An award-winning novel from an international rising star - spanning ancient and modern China - in the dazzlingly inventive style of Haruki Murakami and Kaliane Bradley
'Lu has a brilliant mind for style, language, pace and ideas, and this is a funny and fascinating book that I can't wait to read again and again.' Guardian
'I was mesmerised the moment I opened this book.' Bora Chung, International Booker shortlisted author of Cursed Bunny
Inspired by the vacant, uninhabited megacities of China, Ghost Cities follows multiple narratives, including one in which a young man named Xiang is fired from his job as a translator at Sydney's Chinese Consulate after it is discovered he doesn't speak a word of Chinese and has been relying entirely on Google Translate for his work. The incident goes viral under the hashtag #BadChinese and attracts the attention of the eccentric film director Baby Bao, who uses Lu to attract press for his latest film. Bao's movie, based on ancient legends, is to be filmed in one of China's "ghost cities".
How is his relocation to a ghost city connected to a parallel odyssey in which an ancient Emperor creates a thousand doubles of Himself? Or where a horny mountain gains sentience? Where a chess-playing automaton hides a deadly secret? Or a tale in which every book in the known Empire is destroyed-then recreated, page by page and book by book-all in the name of love and art?
'Siang Lu layers myth and reality into a marvelous structure. This is bold, inventive storytelling, a novel full of ideas that never loses its heart.' Charles Yu, US National Book Award-winning author of Interior Chinatown
Ghost Cities features in the following genres: Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Magical realism, Myths and Legends / Mythic fiction, Humorous Fiction, General Fiction
Ghost Cities is available in Hardback, Paperback
Ghost Cities was written by Siang Lu and published by Summit Books UK
Ghost Cities has 304 pages
£15.29