Deadly Quiet City: Stories From Wuhan, COVID Ground Zero

(Paperback)

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From one of China's most celebrated and silencedliterary authors, Murong Xuecun,Deadly QuietCity is an unforgettablecollection oftrue stories from the early months of the COVID-19 outbreakin Wuhan.

On 23 January 2020, Wuhan was placed in total lockdown. The city of eleven million the centre of Chinas coronavirus outbreak was cut off from the world. As cherry blossoms fell on silent streets, people were left anxious and afraid, struggling to find medicine, food or information about the virus that hadtrapped them in their homes.

In April 2020, Murong Xuecunbravely travelledto the locked-down city, covertly interviewing people from all walks of life on their experiences as the catastrophe unfolded. An exhausted doctor in a small hospital, battling the virus while sick. An illegal motorcycle taxi driver, ferrying people around the empty city. A citizen journalist fighting to reveal the truth of what happened during that endless spring.

The result is eight stories that capture the voices and griefs of a city, and that Murong had to leave China in order to publish. Vivid and haunting, Deadly Quiet City is a unique piece of literary history that reveals so much about the lives of people, the pandemic and China today.

Includes editors note from Professor Clive Hamilton, author of Hidden Hand

Reviews

' reads like a message in a bottle from a secret state.' -Seven Carroll, Sydney Morning Herald

'People who are curious to know why China is so resistant to outside investigation should read this book.' - Anita Chan, The Conversation

'Deadly Quiet Cityis a heartfelt book about Chinese people by a Chinese writer' - Michael Smith, Australian Financial Review

'A harrowing snapshot of life in the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic. . . . This is a masterful expos.' -Publishers Weekly
reads like a message in a bottle from a secret state. -- Steven Carroll * Sydney Morning Herald *
People who are curious to know why China is so resistant to outside investigation should read this book. -- Anita Chan * The Conversation *
'Deadly Quiet Cityis a heartfelt book about Chinese people by a Chinese writer' - Michael Smith, Australian Financial Review -- Michael Smith * Australian Financial Review *
'A harrowing snapshot of life in the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic. . . . This is a masterful expos.' - Publishers Weekly * Publishers Weekly *

Author Bio

Murong Xuecun (nom de plume of Hao Qun) is one of Chinas most famous authors. Through his novels and narrative non-fiction, he has been a rare independent voice writing from inside China. Murongs first novel, Leave Me Alone: A novel of Chengdu, took China by storm in 2002. His recent books include the novel Dancing Through Red Dust and the non-fiction Peoples Literature Prize winner The Missing Ingredient, a work of undercover investigative reporting on a pyramid scheme. Murong has also written for The New York Times since 2011, including an opinion column from 2013 to 2016.