Geling Yan creëert verhalen die de complexiteit van menselijke relaties en maatschappelijke druk onderzoeken, vaak tegen de achtergrond van de Chinese geschiedenis. Haar schrijven kenmerkt zich door scherp psychologisch inzicht en een krachtige vertelstijl die lezers diep in het leven van haar personages trekt. Met een achtergrond die zich uitstrekt van acteren tot oorlogsjournalistiek, brengt Yan een uniek perspectief in haar verhalen. Haar werken, die vaak voor film worden bewerkt, tonen een diep begrip van de menselijke natuur en een opmerkelijk vermogen om de essentie van verschillende tijdperken te vangen.
Run by Father Engelmann, an American priest who has been in China for many years, the church is supposedly neutral ground in the war between China and Japan. Full of wonderful characters, from the austere priest to the irreverent prostitutes, it is a story about how war upsets all prejudices and how love can flourish amidst death.
She is sold to a wealthy Chinese family, where she becomes Duohe - the clandestine second wife to the only son, and the secret bearer of his children. Against all odds, Duohe forms an unlikely friendship with the first wife Xiaohuan, united by the unshakeable bonds of motherhood and family.
From one of China's most acclaimed writers, this is an unflinching, erotic and exciting tale of forbidden love in the gold rush era of turn-of-the-century San Francisco. Geling Yan traces the lives of two individuals separated by prejudice and mistrust, but bound forever by their passion for one another. Fusang is a Chinese girl shanghaied from her village in China, brought to California and sold into the seedy underworld of prostitution. Soon she falls into an obsessive relationship with Chris, an 11-year-old boy. As years pass, numerous barriers are placed between the lovers - by Chris's wealthy family, and most menacingly by Fusang's murderous pimp, who bestrides Chinatown with a clutch of daggers at his waist.
Dan, an unemployed factory worker, sneaks into state-sponsored banquets for free gourmet meals. However, the secrets he overhears at these events lead him into a complex web of intrigue and unexpected consequences.
"Hongmei is the perfect Asian wife: beautiful, diligent, and passive. She lives a quiet life in Northern California with her husband, Glen, an intelligent and caring college professor. But when a mysterious person begins to email her, Hongmei can't resist and soon finds herself enthralled in a psychological cat-and-mouse game. Who is stalking her? And why does s/he know her deepest, darkest secrets? As Hongmei is forced to confront her own dark past in China, her perfect life begins to fall apart. Desperate and self-destructive, she embarks on an investigation into her emailer's secret history. One that may tear her life and marriage apart forever"--