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Four Treasures of the Sky
Four Treasures of the Sky
Mar 1, 2026 8:13 AM

Author:Jenny Tinghui Zhang

Four Treasures of the Sky

A propulsive and dazzling debut novel set against the backdrop of the Chinese Exclusion Act, and one Chinese girl fighting to claim her place

'An engulfing, bighearted and heartbreaking novel' ANN PATCHETT, author of Women's Prize longlisted The Dutch House

'A sweeping adventure of identity, love and belonging' C PAM ZHANG, Man Booker longlisted author of How Much of These Hills are Gold

'An impressive and original debut' THE SUNDAY TIMES

__________

Daiyu was named after a ghost . . .

Little Daiyu is twelve when her parents disappear. So she runs, disguising herself as a boy, to sweep the steps of Master Wang's calligraphy school in Zhifu.

But this is just the beginning of a journey that sends her across an ocean to San Francisco and the lawless American west.

Kidnapped. Trafficked. Betrayed.

Prize virgin in a brothel.

Passion. Revenge. Freedom.

A woman in a man's world.

Daiyu fears her name is a curse on her life.

But what if it might yet set her free?

__________

'Brilliant and devastating . . . Weaving together myth and history, Zhang's work is both timeless and utterly necessary right now' ANNA NORTH, New York Times bestselling author of Outlawed

'An instant and necessary classic, easily among the best novels of this past decade. The story lingers long after its final pages' T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls

'An astonishing novel propelled by private and public histories, rich with reflections on self-making, moral calling, great love, and profound injustice' Megha Majumdar, author of A Burning

Reviews

An engulfing, bighearted and heartbreaking novel. Illuminates shocking injustices, making us stop and consider how many survive to this day

—— Ann Patchett, author of Women's Prize longlisted The Dutch House

An impressive and original debut

—— THE SUNDAY TIMES

A sweeping adventure of identity, love and belonging

—— C Pam Zhang, Man Booker longlisted author of How Much of These Hills are Gold

Brilliant and devastating. Four Treasures of the Sky tells the story of Daiyu, who is brought to America against her will and forced to hide who she is even as she grows into her true self. Weaving together myth and history, Zhang's work is both timeless and utterly necessary right now.

—— Anna North, author of the New York Times bestseller Outlawed

An instant and necessary classic, easily among the best novels of this past decade. The story lingers long after its final pages

—— T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls

An astonishing novel propelled by private and public histories, rich with reflections on self-making, moral calling, great love, and profound injustice

—— Megha Majumdar, author of A Burning

This unforgettable novel dazzles. An exhilarating rush of character, history and storytelling

—— Kali Fajardo-Anstine, US National Book Award finalist author of Sabrina & Corina

Brings alive a heroine for the ages, an indomitable teenage girl whose relentless spirit and self-reinvention carries this story. Daiyu is sure to take her place in the canon of great Western heroines next to True Grit's Mattie Ross

—— Juliet Grames, author of The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna

This book is haunting, luscious and precise - it's historical fiction as we most want and need it to be. Four Treasures of the Sky paints a neglected chapter in history with sharp and devastating brushstrokes

—— Julia Fine, author of The Upstairs House

A lyrical and sweeping Bildungsroman, fierce and moving

—— Publishers Weekly, starred review

A book to sit alongside Yaa Gyasi's Homecoming and Anna North's Outlawed, this is a powerful tale of reclamation, spun with soul by a remarkable new talent

—— Lauren Puckett, Shelf Awareness

Deeply immersive, atmospheric, and a true love letter to gothic fiction. An impressive, standout debut, sure to leave readers on the edge of their seats

—— Courier

Incredibly rich prose in this absorbing, deeply atmospheric story of governess, Margaret Lennox. A brilliant love letter to classic Victorian fiction and a standout debut

—— Hazel Gaynor

Dark, twisty, gothic and full of surprises ... a deliciously atmospheric page-turner

—— Liz Hyder, author of THE GIFTS

A real blast...I really enjoyed this haunting, gothic tale

—— DINAH JEFFERIES, bestselling author of the SUNDAY TIMES number one bestseller THE TEA-PLANTER'S WIFE

A globe-trotting adventure through the 19th century

—— i, Best Books for Autumn

Boyd's pile-up of set piece escapades offers a huge amount of fun

—— Daily Mail

Boyd's books are so enjoyable that it's hard for us to resent the tricks being played on us, even as we find ourselves constantly reaching for Google, wanting to know what is and isn't real

—— TLS

There's a cornucopia of fine things here . . . The Romantic, always enjoyable, ranks with two of his best: The New Confessions and Any Human Heart. Both were intelligent and engrossing, novels you lived with. Both told a fine story very well. The Romantic does just that

—— Scotsman

A ripping yarn. And as such, it is pretty much faultless: as moreish as good chocolate, terrifically entertaining, and deeply humane

—— i

A huge amount of fun

—— Daily Mail (Ireland)

One of our best contemporary storytellers

—— Spectator

A narrative that Charles Dickens or Jane Austen would surely have been happy to claim as their own . . . there's a joy to Boyd's storytelling throughout and his hero is one to cheer for

—— Business Post (Ireland)

A wonderful tale that spans a life of adventure, this is storytelling at its very best

—— Best

Crammed with incident, the novel has the wonderfully freewheeling quality that one associates with the great 19th-century novelists. As with most of Boyd's works, it manages to be warm-hearted and deliciously sardonic at the same time

—— Literary Review

William Boyd taps into the classic novel tradition with this sweeping tale of one man's century-spanning life

—— Spectator

There is no doubt that Boyd is a masterful storyteller . . . this is a book to get totally, utterly and delightfully lost in

—— Anna Bonet

A new novel by William Boyd is always a treat and in his picaresque latest, The Romantic, his hero is Cashel Greville Ross, born in 1799, a soldier, lover, friend of poets, bankrupt and adventurer who is swept into many of the most important episodes of the 19th century

—— Lucy Lethbridge , Oldie

This highly entertaining, engrossing page-turner is the fictionalised biography of Cashel Greville Ross, who was born in 1799 in Scotland and brought up in Cork. Such is William Boyd's mastery as a storyteller, one begins to believe that all of the events are entirely real

—— James Lawless , Sunday Independent

The Romantic is a rollicking read that will delight his many fans

—— Susie Mesure , i

A wild ride across the 19th century on the back of a narrative that never pauses for breath . . . this breakneck pace seems to be a function of Boyd's exceptional imaginative facility, which sees him just as irresistibly drawn to new ideas as his hero is

—— John Self , Financial Times

What could be more reassuring in troubling times than a new William Boyd novel? Trio is immensely readable, its descriptions full of light and colour, its humour spot on, its mood a perfect mix of frolicsome and melancholy

—— Sunday Telegraph on Trio

Reading William Boyd's Trio is like shrugging on a worn leather jacket on the first brisk morning of autumn: cosy but cool . . . He has enormous fun with the worlds - and egos - of page and screen

—— The Times on Trio

Breakneck pace seems to be a function of Boyd's exceptional imaginative facility, which sees him just as irresistibly drawn to new ideas as his hero is . . . there's something irresistible about that energy . . . if a whole-life novel is intended to represent the span of a unique existence, then The Romantic gets it right

—— FT

The Romantic is a whole-life novel, a form in which Boyd excels . . . a terrific read

—— Country & Town House
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