"Sun Palace was not a famous place in Beijing, either in the past or in the present day. In my childhood, I talked to others about Sun Palace with pride, though nobody had heard of it."

Guangqin is a lonely girl, ignored by her ageing father and older half-siblings as she entertains herself in the dilapidated courtyard of her once-illustrious family home in 1950s Beijing. The highlight of her year is a summer visit to the remote village home of her mother’s childhood friend, where she enjoys balmy days and sleepless nights in the company of a yellow dog and a boy named Sunny. In her autobiographical novel, Ye Guangqin creates a poignant vista of chirping weasels, rural feasts and crumbling shrines as she invites readers to join her on a journey of discovery to the Sun Palace.

This book is part of Shaanxi Stories, a series of translated works by acclaimed authors from the Shaanxi province of China, produced by Valley Press in collaboration with Northwest University, Xi’an. The series editors are Hu Zongfeng and Robin Gilbank.