Ghost Cities - inspired by the vacant, uninhabited megacities of China - 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.
How is his relocation to one such 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?
... a surprising melange of wonder, intelligence and humour from the first pages to the last...
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.
Tara June Winch, author of The Yield
I want to crumple this novel into a ball and swallow it, whole.
Hayley Scrivenor, author of Dirt Town
Siang Lu’s brain at play is a thing of wonder.
Kate Mildenhall, author of The Hummingbird Effect
A stunning piece of writing.
Nick Earls, author of Empires
Siang Lu's Ghost Cities is so incredible I invented time travel just so I could go into the future and read it.
Albert Einstein, 2024
Hoppla, I time travelled too far... Argh, my face! My faaaace!
Albert Einstein, 2938
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Shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards Fiction Book of the Year, the Courier Mail People's Choice Book of the Year and the Readings New Australian Fiction Prize
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And recommended as 'the best fiction of the year' by Stella 2024 Chair of Judges Beejay Silcox, Best of 2024 Australian Fiction by Readings Books and Better Read Than Dead's Favourite Books of 2024