Swimming Back to Trout River: A Novel

(Paperback)

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A beautifully written, poignant exploration of family, art, culture, immigrationand love (Jean Kwok, author of Searching for Sylvie Lee and Girl in Translation) set against the backdrop of Chinas Cultural Revolution that follows a fathers quest to reunite his family before his precocious daughters momentous birthday, which Garth Greenwell calls one of the most beautiful debuts Ive read in years.

How many times in life can we start over without losing ourselves

In the summer of 1986, in a small Chinese village, ten-year-old Junie receives a momentous letter from her parents, who had left for America years ago: her father promises to return home and collect her by her twelfth birthday. But Junies growing determination to stay put in the idyllic countryside with her beloved grandparents threatens to derail her familys shared future.

Junie doesnt know that her parents, Momo and Cassia, are newly estranged from one another in their adopted country, each holding close private tragedies and histories from the tumultuous years of their youth during Chinas Cultural Revolution. While Momo grapples anew with his deferred musical ambitions and dreams for Junies future in America, Cassia finally begins to wrestle with a shocking act of brutality from years ago. For Momo to fulfill his promise, he must make one last desperate attempt to reunite all three family members before Junies birthdayeven if it means bringing painful family secrets to light.

Swimming Back to Trout River is a symphony of a novel (BookPage) that weaves together the stories of Junie, Momo, Cassia, and Dawna talented violinist from Momos pastwhile depicting their heartbreak and resilience, tenderly revealing the hope, compromises, and abiding ingenuity that make up the lives of immigrants. Fengs debut is filled with tragedy yet touched with life-affirming passion (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), and Feng weaves a plot both surprising and inevitable, with not a word to spare (Booklist, starred review).

Reviews

"With lean prose and assured storytelling, this debut novel describes a family fractured by geography, ambition and the ripple effects of Chinas tumultuous 20th-century history."NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW(NEW AND NOTEWORTHY)

Against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a husband and wife are afraid to share their deepest longings and regrets. With disarmingly quiet prose, Feng digs beneath Cassias and Momos reluctance to mine their emotional depths as they struggle to grasp their individual experiences as well as their fractured relationship. Filled with tragedy yet touched with life-affirming passion.KIRKUS REVIEWS(STARRED REVIEW)

Feng's lithe debut moves with grace from Communist China to San Francisco and the Great Plains, and from the 1960s to the 1980s, as it follows four interlocked lives....With the lightest of touches, Feng vividly portrays the experience of living in China during Mao's rule as well as the pressures of being a new immigrant. Looking deeply into the invisible mesh that links her characters' lives, Feng weaves a plot both surprising and inevitable, with not a word to spare.BOOKLIST(STARRED REVIEW)

"Fengs striking debut novel chronicles what happens to a young Chinese family in the wake of the Cultural Revolution. Feng captures humor and grief in equal measures...and she elegantly references Chinese concepts of fate and luck while building toward a poignant conclusion. This resonates from page one.PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Hard to put down, this beautifully written novel is filled with optimismFeng makes her mark in this promising debut, and she successfully weaves in several unexpected plot twists as the narrative unfolds, leaving readers to long for a sequel.LIBRARY JOURNAL

"During the tumultuous years of China's Cultural Revolution, 10-year-old Junie receives a letter from her parents in the United Statespromising to come retrieve her before her 12th birthday, but Junie doesn't want to leave her grandparents or the Chinese countryside. Her reluctance could derail her parents' plan, especially sincelong-buried family secrets and their individual struggles have already driven them apart."GOOD HOUSEKEEPING (25 Best Historical Fiction Books to Take You Back in Time)

Sensitively exploring themes of grief, hope and resilience, Swimming Back to Trout River is a symphony of a novel that is operatic in scope and elevated by Fengs artful writing.BOOKPAGE

Fengs debut is about a ten-year-old girl in a small Chinese village in 1986 whose parents live in America and have promised to return by her twelfth birthday. A novel about longing and secrets and immigrant compromises, one Garth Greenwell calls one of the most beautiful debuts hes read in years.ELECTRIC LIT(44 BOOKS BY WOMEN OF COLOR TO READ IN 2021)

Linda Rui Feng'sSwimming Back to Trout Riveris a beautifully written, poignant exploration of family, art, culture, immigration and most of all, love. I was swept away by Feng's fierce intelligence and keen insight even as her characters captured my heart with their tender hopes and bold actions. A gorgeous book that I couldn't put down.JEAN KWOK, author of Searching for Sylvie LeeandGirl in Translation

What can account for the astonishing emotional force of this debut novel Maybe its that Linda Rui Feng understands her characters with an intimacy one seldom encounters, or the sense one has that she loves them so much. Or maybe its Fengs exceedingly rare gift for putting language to feelings so profound, and so exquisitely observed, that they escape all readymade names. Everything in this gorgeously orchestrated novel surprises, everything outraces expectation.Swimming Back to Trout Riveris one of the most beautiful debuts I have read in years.GARTH GREENWELL, author ofCleannessandWhat Belongs to You

Swimming Back to Trout Riveris notable for the grace of its prose and the harmony of its intertwined narratives, but the essential 'beat' of this wonderful fiction is the heartbeat of its characters, so richly and lovingly brought to life.PETER HO DAVIES, author ofThe Fortunes

A beautiful and haunting story about a family'sjourney,a child's persistence, a couple's love.We all desire more, don't weYet we can't always predict what's on the other side. Ifelt immersed, taken back to a tumultuous and strangetime that was full of inconceivable moments and hidden brightness.Feng writes with unflinching grace.She is exploratory yet precise,a narrative powerhouse.Needless to say, the musicis poignant.WEIKE WANG, author ofChemistry

An impressive and thoroughly satisfying debut....This book offersprofound insight into human longing: how lives become intertwined and complicated by desire, fear, and memory. Music and its riveting power connects Fengs characters through space and time. The period details are seamlessly woven, resulting in a beautifully crafted work of art with a story that will linger long after the turning of the final page.ANN Y.K. CHOI,author ofKay's Lucky Coin Variety

Author Bio

Born in Shanghai, Linda Rui Feng has lived in San Francisco, New York, and Toronto. She is a graduate of Harvard and Columbia Universities and is currently a professor of Chinese cultural history at the University of Toronto. She has been twice awarded a MacDowell Fellowship for her fiction, and her prose and poetry have appeared in journals such as The Fiddlehead, TheKenyon Review, Santa Monica Review, and Washington Square Review. Swimming Back to Trout River is her first novel. Visit LindaRuiFeng.com to learn more.