The Immortal Woman: A Novel

A sweeping generational story of heartbreak, resilience, and yearning, revealing an insider's view of the fractured lives of Chinese immigrants and those they leave behind. 

Lemei, once a student Red Guard leader in 1960s Shanghai and a journalist at a state newspaper, was involved in a brutal act of violence during the Tiananmen Square protests and lost all hope for her country. Her daughter, Lin, is a student at an American university on a mission to become a true Westerner. She tirelessly erases her birth identity, abandons her Chinese suitor, and pursues a white lover, all the while haunted by the scars of her upbringing. Following China's meteoric rise, Lemei is slowly dragged into a nationalistic perspective that stuns Lin. Their final confrontation results in tragic consequences, but ultimately, offers hope for a better future. By turns wry and lyrical, The Immortal Woman reminds us to hold tight to our humanity at any cost.

SU CHANG is a Chinese Canadian writer. Born and raised in Shanghai, she is the daughter of a former (reluctant) Red Guard leader. Her fiction has been recognized inPrairie Fire’s Short Fiction Contest, the Canadian Authors Association (Toronto) National Writing Contest, the ILS/Fence Fiction Contest, and theMasters Review’s Novel Excerpt Contest, among others.

ISBN: 9781487013172
Format: Paperback
Pages: 384
Publisher: House of Anansi Press Inc
Published: March 04, 2025

"Chang's writing is powered by raw emotion ... [The Immortal Woman is] a cathartic account of a family buffeted by the winds of modern Chinese history." - Publishers Weekly"The Immortal Woman is a promising debut with some unforgettable passages. " - Washington Independent Review of Books"Defying limits with triumph and aplomb ... Chang's lyrical, spinning and dizzying prose creates a vivid sense of the ever-shifting ground beneath her characters' feet." - 49th Shelf"Su Chang paints a complex picture of intergenerational trauma and the meaning of home." - Quebec Library Association