{"product_id":"strangers-at-the-red-door-a-novel-isbn-9781443476539","title":"Strangers at the Red Door: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eGLOBE AND MAIL \u003c\/i\u003eTOP 100 BOOK OF THE YEAR\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"The Giller-shortlisted novelist uses the fantastic to tell a thrilling tale of censorship and the artist’s need to tell their story.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe Globe and Mail\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA foreign ghostwriter visiting Hong Kong partners up with the disembodied spirit of the most dangerous novelist in China to find a local bookseller who’s been disappeared by the authorities after attempting to smuggle the novelist’s subversive masterpiece onto the mainland\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt a train station in China, three people meet, only two of whom are actually alive. The first is Faron Jones, on his way to Hong Kong to interview an Iranian film director-turned-dissident holed up in the Japanese consulate. The second is Mildred Chen, a Hong Kong bookseller detained at the border crossing for attempting to deliver copies of the most dangerous novel in China over to the mainland. The third is the deceased author of that very novel, Jiang Ming, now a wandering spirit trapped in the middle world between life and death.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSoon after this encounter, and for no reason he can understand, Faron learns that he’s suddenly acquired flawless Mandarin and Cantonese, languages only a day earlier he had no knowledge of. Slowly, the impossible truth that another man’s soul has joined his own and now speaks in his voice becomes maddeningly undeniable. With this comes Jiang Ming’s extraordinary claim and his urgent request of Faron, and so the ghostwriter and the spirit of the dead novelist trapped within him set upon a search for the one person—the disappeared bookseller—who’s able to deliver the Chinese novelist’s spirit to his final resting place.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eInstantly propulsive, wholly original, and like a mirror for our current times,\u003ci\u003e Strangers at the Red Door\u003c\/i\u003e follows these characters and their quests for freedom, love, and reconciliation. It explores a world in which the boundaries of the physical and the spiritual blur; countries facing uncertain futures intersect; and the struggle of the artist against political oppression becomes an essential act of survival.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“Dennis Bock’s characters inhabit a transnational world. They traverse the realms of the living, the dead and the disappeared. In an age of political secrets and repression, they risk making a place for each other's stories. This is a novel for the 21st century. Read it.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKim Echlin, author of Speak, Silence\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“In \u003cem\u003eStrangers at the Red Door\u003c\/em\u003e, Bock brings his characters to achingly vivid life—each fully realized in their certainties and doubts, their ambitions, loves, and longings. With elegant prose, he entwines their deeply imaginative stories, guiding the narrative through turns that are at once unexpected and entirely satisfying.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCathy Marie Buchanan, bestselling author of Daughter of Black Lake and The Painted Girls\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Eerily Delightful. . . . a proud, faithful devotion to the ensoulment of books, people and even fairy drones and to the capacity of human creativity to expand reality when “suspicion and fear and self-censorship” cease to rule the heart.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWinnipeg Free Press\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"The Giller-shortlisted novelist uses the fantastic to tell a thrilling tale of censorship and the artist’s need to tell their story.\" —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Globe and Mail\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Extraordinary! \u003ci\u003eStrangers at the Red Door\u003c\/i\u003e is a novel of remarkable confidence and depth, unfolding across continents, time, and belief systems while remaining deeply intimate and human. At its core, it is a story of searching: every character is looking for something—love, knowledge, forgiveness, meaning—and each undertakes their own odyssey. . . . There were moments when a single sentence took my breath away, and others when I experienced loss alongside the characters. (I might have wept through the last 60 pages or so - not only because of the emotional impact of the book but also for its sheer beauty.) This is a novel meticulously crafted and deeply felt—a rare book that feels both inevitable and enduring. A masterpiece.\"\u003cb\u003e —Heidi von Palleske, author of\u003ci\u003e Two White Queens and the One-Eyed Jack \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"“I highly recommend this book by Canadian novelist Dennis Bock. What first appears to be a geopolitical thriller turns into a much richer story that delves into the psyches of the main characters. Their predicaments prompt questions that most of us have wrestled with, even in a fast-paced story with unexpected plot twists. The book steers clear of ideological polemics and predictable tropes, yet still celebrates those who risk their livelihoods and lives for freedom of expression. Best of all, there’s a kind of wisdom that Bock imparts in this book that makes it – ultimately – an uplifting read.\" —\u003cb\u003eRobert Delaney, North America bureau chief, \u003ci\u003eSouth China Morning Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Perfect for lively book club discussions.\" —\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eMiramichi Reader\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48588046008549,"sku":"NP9781443476539","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781443476539.jpg?v=1773961059","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/strangers-at-the-red-door-a-novel-isbn-9781443476539","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}