“Four Treasures of the Sky” is a historical fiction novel by Jenny Tinghui Zhang. The book tells the story of Daiyu, a young Chinese woman who is kidnapped and smuggled to California in the late 19th century

This is one of the most heartbreaking stories I’ve ever read. The main character is just pummeled with horrible experiences from being orphaned, to kidnapped to forced brothel work and incredible racism. The writing is incredible and the strength of the main character makes all she’s been through at all bearable to read. I’m so glad I came back to this book, I learned so much and will absolutely be recommending this one!!

This is such a lovely and unique story- it would be difficult to explain it to anyone succinctly. Historical fiction? Ghost story? Crazy gorgeous writing? All of the above?

A difficult story to read (and based on true events) but so worth anyone's time. Loved it.

Also I really geek out over covers, and this one is just amazing.

Thanks so much for the review copy!

I read this at the end of 2021 and put it on my top 5 books I read that year. FOUR TREASURES OF THE SKY is a stunning debut that will break your heart. The Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ending was the perfect way to wrap up this gorgeous saga.

FOUR TREASURES OF THE SKY is a poetic tribute to the sordid side of humanity set against the backdrop of anti-Chinese attitudes in the U.S. in the 1880s. Although the events in this novel are far from beautiful, the story flows across the pages with tragic grace. It feels odd to say I enjoyed this book given its somber content. But I enjoyed it in the sense that I am in awe of Zhang's lyrical arrangement of language to tell Daiyu's story.

The four treasures refer to the "Four Treasures of the Study" of calligraphy: the brush, inkstick, paper, and inkstone. Before Daiyu is kidnapped she finds work at a calligraphy school in exchange for food and a place to stay. She also begins to learn calligraphy and the philosophy of the art. Throughout the trauma she experiences she grounds herself in this philosophy, using calligraphy as a means to set intention in her life.

What was left of Daiyu's naivete and trust while playing the part of a young boy in the streets dissipates after she is kidnapped and smuggled to the U.S. She must quickly learn the duplicitous nature of humanity, particularly the sector that thrives on others' vulnerability. And so Daiyu comes to explore the meaning of identity, which is an overarching theme throughout, as she reinvents herself survive.

When she comes face to face with anti-Chinese sentiment in Idaho, she again experiences this dual sidedness of personalities. Someone's actions may not necessarily bely their true feelings or opinions on a particular issue. Daiyu realizes this when she sees familiar faces in a rowdy crowd protesting and the presence of Chinese immigrants in their town. She sees it in authority figures whose position stands for justice but whose lack of action speaks for itself. These situations also flirt with the issue of crowd behavior. That is, someone may not necessarily agree with the loudest opinion, but does nothing to voice this opposition, either because of fear of retribution, ostracization, or both.

The examination of identity also intersects with that of gender and the weaknesses and strengths assigned to those roles. Even before Daiyu found herself in America she realized it was safer to play the role of a boy after her grandmother sent her away. Once thrust in the setting of a brothel the inequality between genders is vastly evident. These men can take and use and abuse because ingrained within them after generations of misogyny is their right to do what they want when they want with whomever they want. Zhang writes this realization much more eloquently than I can relay it, but Daiyu observes, recognizes, and internalizes it. Thus when she escapes the brothel she assumes the identity of an adolescent man, for there is a level of safety that automatically comes with a male persona.

I think arguably the most important part of this book is the inclusion of racism against Chinese immigrants in the U.S. Zhang expresses in her author's note that her "hope is that this book brings the United States' history of anti-Chinese violence out of scholarship and research and into our collective memory" (p. 321). Like many aspects of history taught in U.S. classrooms, instruction generally skims over the unsavory aspects of U.S. history, with the exception of Black enslavement and the Civil Rights movement. In my opinion Zhang succeeds in raising awareness of anti-Chinese violence in FOUR TREASURES OF THE SKY.

Although this story is far from heartwarming, it brings to the surface a time in history that is woefully under-presented. Spurred by a true event in Idaho, FOUR TREASURES OF THE SKY carves a niche into our collective memory of the anti-Chinese sentiment that spread across the U.S. in the 19th century. Zhang delivers a poignant story of survival and identity under the oppressiveness of racism and misogyny.

[To be posted in www.aliteraryescape.com]

Inspired by an Idaho road marker author Zhang saw about five Chinese immigrants lynched in the late 1800s, this novel is a propulsive feat of historical fiction.

Daiyu is a young Chinese girl whose parents are taken by the government. Her grandmother disguises her as a boy and sends her away from certain death. Daiyu finds refuge in a bustling town, but her temporary reprieve is extinguished when she's kidnapped and sent to the American West. Here, she endures not only harrowing struggles to survive, but also racist atrocities fueled by The Chinese Expulsion Act.

This isn't an easy book it read. Daiyu's struggles, at times, seem particularly unrelenting, yet it's a credit to Zhang's prose that the moments of levity, joy, and love feel as vivid as the pain and tragedy. Daiyu's connection with her namesake imbued the book with a mystical tone that was also engaging.

While hard to read in many parts, this is an engrossing book that kept me riveted. A powerful debut!

Lin Daiyu doesn't want the life she feels like her namesake has destined her for. A fictional but hugely important character in Chinese literature, Lin Daiyu, is both very beautiful and also destined for heartbreak. She seems to have a handle on that until everything changes in one fateful night. The police come for her parents, who are promptly arrested. Her grandmother then sends Daiyu back to the fishing village where her parents first met, terrified what might become of her if she were to stay. From there, things go south pretty quickly, forcing Daiyu to be adaptable to stay as safe as possible and alive.

This book was beautifully written about extremely hard topics. An incredible look at history that I definitely feel like I wasn't familiar with, even with living near San Francisco, not to mention the Chinese Exclusion Act. Ms. Zhang handled terrible traumas for these characters with a grace that was unexpected; so that while uncomfortable at times, it never felt "too much". Daiyu not only went through a kidnapping and being held, but was shipped across the ocean to San Francisco illegally, and as such, didn't receive any kind of luxury or accommodation on the journey. Once she arrives stateside, things don't improve by much. Forced to reinvent herself many times over, Daiyu must be willing to do anything and everything she can to survive. It's really a heart-wrenching, but beautifully told story.

It’s often interesting to see what motivated an author to craft a particular story. Especially when the push to create something powerful comes from empathy for the powerless. Like Sabaa Tahir who says her own experience of growing up as a kid who didn’t fit in and then reading about various stories of some absolutely voiceless people when she worked as a copy editor for Washington Post’s international desk, inspired her to finally write An Ember in the Ashes. So it’s no surprise to find —through the book’s author note— that Jenny Tinghui Zhang’s Four Treasures of the Sky came into existence after her father requested her to write a story based on what he had come across: a marker, while visiting a site in Idaho, referencing to an incident of 1885 when five Chinese people were hanged by vigilantes.

The raw intention that must have fuelled Zhang when first drafting this novel is evident from a plot that doesn’t hold back on what can happen —must have happened and is still happening— to those who are destined to or want their stories to span two continents, two directions: the East and the West. It’s a historical fiction that draws on the infamous Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 that was founded on anti-Asian sentiments in America. But there’s a sense of urgency in this fiction that reads real and the historical context that unfortunately holds true even in present times.

“When I am kidnapped, it does not happen in an alleyway. It does not happen in the middle of the night. It does not happen when I am alone.” From the very first line, Zhang warns you that the story isn’t one you would expect, especially if you wish for it to abide by what you must have already read with respect to the plot’s events. Daiyu, a thirteen-year-old girl, was born in a Chinese village where she had a place and its people to call home: her grandmother taught her patience while learning to care for the living things in her garden; her mother taught her how to be good with hands while she made tapestries; and her smart father taught her to work with her mind. But this family also gave her the name of a tragic heroine. From the story of Dream of the Red Chamber, one of China’s four great classic novels, Lin Daiyu is a poet who fell in love with a boy above her in the pyramid of social hierarchy. When the boy’s family disapproves of the match and disguises another girl as their son’s one true love on his wedding day, Lin Daiyu falls terribly ill and dies.

Daiyu frequently wonders throughout the story if she would succumb to the misfortune of the character she is named after, and constantly tries to run away from the destiny attached to this name. Every adversity in her life is blamed on the fate her name holds. Like the first domino falling, her parents disappear and her grandmother warns her that the same people who captured her parents would come for her too —urging her to run away to the city.

The city teaches her she can’t be a girl anymore if she wishes to survive. So with a jacket and shaved head, she becomes Feng. Sweeping steps outside the calligraphy school, she discovers her interest in the art form and the father-like Master Wang teaches her how to write. Zhang’s research shines through these pages of momentary happiness in our protagonist’s life as a lyrical meditation on the language and its beautiful strokes can be witnessed. The idea of how one’s first language shapes them is unmissable.

Another domino subsequently falls when Daiyu is kidnapped at the fish market by a dangerous Chinese gang. A year locked in a dark room, forced to learn English, Daiyu traces Chinese characters with her fingers in hope for familiarity, home, and roots —recounting the significance of each stroke in a character. Shipped to America to be sold to a brothel, Daiyu’s destiny is once again indisputable and devastating. It is here that the ‘timely’ historical fiction interspersed with Chinese mythology makes space for magical realism when Daiyu’s namesake appears as a ghost. The spirit acts as a materialisation of what our heroine believed was only her, of what she believed was now only hers to suffer through: the cruel fate married to this name. The teenage Daiyu’s trauma finds a release in the times she summons the ghost.

The United States teaches Daiyu that here, she doesn’t need to disguise herself as a boy to be safe, because it is just as dangerous for Chinese men as it is for Chinese women. But that bit of her identity isn’t changeable; it can’t be taken off like a jacket. She realises the injustices are different on this other side of the world but aren’t any less brutal. Like the very many starts to Daiyu’s story— the author subtly begins a lot of sections with the phrase, “This is the story of…” —through the course of this journey, another blank page is drawn to start over when she escapes to Idaho. In this mining town, she creates a new life disguised as a man.

Four Treasures of the Sky isn’t easy to read but it’s easy to comprehend as one meant to be difficult. It explores the exploitation, fetishization, segregation, and blatant racism faced by the Chinese in a land they come to with hope or are dragged to with abuse. At the core of it all, this debut is dark and tragic. It’s not one you can escape through. It’s one your emotions will force you to hold on to as Zhang’s poetic prose unravels a story of reclamation—even though there’s no justice, no closure, no happiness at the end. Though, there is a reminder and an encouragement throughout.

I am just. Sobbing. The story was beautiful and tragic and I have too many feelings right now. So glad I went back to this one after setting it aside a little while ago!

I finished this 12 days ago and have read two books since, but I keep reflecting on this, especially with the beginning of Asian American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month starting tomorrow. 

GIven today's increase in anti-Asian violence, this book is very timely (and it shows how much this type of racism and the attendant sentiments, beliefs and actions persist today. In the Afterwords, we learn that the impetus of this story stems from anti-Asian violence, a lynching in Pierce, Idaho in 1885.  The author's father learned of this historical event and suggested that she write about it somehow.

This story depicts the experiences of a young Chinese girl who is kidnapped and trafficked to the U.S. during the days of the wild west. The author conveys a poignancy in this story told from the first-person perspective.  We see the deep and bittersweet struggle to survive and to dream and hope for a better life, the one she was ripped from.  It's one hurdle after another while the trajectory brings her forward, closer to home and her family.  The storycrafting, the beautiful and affecting language, and the deep emotionality combine to make this an extraordinary reading experience.  I would definitely recommend this title and gladly read other works from this author.

I thank Flatiron Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Several of my favorite quotes:

...The cotton roar of the beach is at our backs, the sea breeze one long exhale around us. The air here is rich with salt.  Everything clings to me, and I to everything.

...When you find yourself arrested by the breathtaking scroll, when the strokes look like they could bleed you dry, remember that each character carries multiple histories and that what you are looking at is entire centuries past.

In English, plurality and time matter. You cannot talk about an action without also talking about when it happened. Past, present, or future can define an entire experience. That is the hardest part.

...For those who speak English, there is a limit to time. That is why it is so important to differentiate among past, present, and future.

...Either you die of disease or you die because of a man. To which I asked, what is the difference?
Swallow is the mystery. Bone, white and silent--not quiet, but silent, she has not history and no future that she speaks of. She has the most customers of us all, and perhaps her silence is why. There is something about her that can be rewritten over and over again.

...It was her entire way of being--that careful mystery, that indecipherability, even when she was alone. Every movement brought with it a new question that must be answered. I saw a girl who was a woman, who had the most extreme knowledge of herself. That was her power. That was the reason for her silence--not a silence at all, but a contentment with simply existing as she was.   And the customers? The men? They wanted to consume that power. That was why they kept choosing her again and again. Could I blame them? Swallow had in her something that could feed a hungry village forever, if only she would share. If only they could get her to share.

...To write the character for Swallow's name, one must include fire beneath it all.  She would never let herself be burned.  Instead, she would be the fire.

It is the anger still holding me. It is the anger that will not let me meet her gaze.

...You remind me of my son, one of them tells me, tears filling his brown eyes. You remind me of everything, I want to reply. It is a childish truth. What he reminds me of is something I did not know could go missing--the feeling of being where you should be. There is a difference between being a newcomer to a city and being in a world that does not resemble you, that reminds you every moment of your strangeness....

...That was what I learned in America, being a boy was easy, but being a man was essential. As a man, I could look at other men without fear of being seen. But as a man, I could see, too....

...But here, I <i>am</i> special. The white people make me that way. Why else would they step aside when I walk by, or avoid my eyes, or whisper things that I cannot hear under their breath? My body is covered in the syllables of another language, the scroll of a kingdom that has existed long before they did and will continue existing long after they are gone. I am something they cannot fathom. I am something they fear. We all are.

...They hate us because they think we are a threat to them. They think we will take their jobs. They are afraid we will seduce their women. They hate us because they believe, even if they will not admit it, that we are better than them. And it is not just here--it is happening everywhere....

...I am not sinking because of the stone but because I am the stone.

his is a historical fiction novel that sheds light on the treatment of Chinese in the history of America, specifically around the 1880’s. It is not something I knew much about going into the book. It’s not a pleasant subject, however the author presents it with characters that we learn to love.

The main character is Daiyu. A young girl born in China, with perhaps an unlucky name. She is kidnapped and brought to America to work in a brothel.

However, one of the most interesting parts of the novel occurred before the kidnapping and that is when she starts learning calligraphy from Master Wang. I knew nothing about the detail and work that goes into learning to write the Chinese characters. What each one means and how you combine them. It was fascinating. The skill and contemplation that she learned will help her later as she faces hardships in America.

Once she gets to America, it is a constant battle. A battle to escape the brothel and make a life herself in a land that is not hospitable to the Chinese.

I enjoyed the story (if you can say that about something that makes you feel uncomfortable) however I was not happy with the ending. It fit with the story, it was just not the ending I had hoped for. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC of the book.

Today I’m part of the Flatiron Books blog tour for Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang. This was a beautifully written and amazing read, telling the story of Daiyu, a young girl kidnapped from China and brought to San Francisco in the 1880’s. This story was startling, sad, and had many triggers relating to sexual violence, abuse, neglect, and more, but it was so beautifully told that I could not stop reading. Daiyu’s story tells of her strength and courage and shines a light on a time in our history that many don’t know much about. This is Zhang’s debut novel and her writing is so picturesque and so mellifluous that it’s hard to believe that this is her first. As someone who adores Lisa See’s novels (and has read most if not all of them), this book reminded me of her works. I can’t stop thinking about this story.

Historical fiction at its finest – thank you for my copy.

For more reviews and bookish posts please visit https://www.ManOfLaBook.com

Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang is set in the American West, and follows a kidnapped Chinese girl fighting personal, as well as institutional, racism during the Chinese Exclusion Act. Ms. Zhang is an American writer who was born in China.

When Daiyu was twelve years old girl in China, her parents disappear. Fearing for her safety, Daiyu’s grandmother assumed the role of a boy in an attempt to make her disappear in the city of Zhifu.

As Feng, the hardworking Daiyu got a job at Wang’s Calligraphy School. Even though she was hired to sweep the floors, she began to trace and learn calligraphy. One day, a strange man kidnapped Daiyu and held her captive for a year, teaching her English. After a year, Daiyu was smuggled into the United States packed in a bucket of coal.

In the United States, during the late 1800s, Daiyu faces even more challenges. Being put in a whorehouse, she manages an improbable escape, only to face the harsh realities and racism on the outside.

I did not know what to expect from Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang, but what I got was a very powerful story. Books like this are an excellent way to learn about US history. I have read a few books about how we treated Chinese immigrants during that time (the graphic novel Escape to Gold Mountain was a memorable one), but I learned a lot more from this novel.

The history of racism and violence in the United States is often glanced over. My high-school history teacher used to say that “when you look at American history, you get a black eye”, as in being punched. It took me about a decade to realize just how right he was.

I also enjoyed how Ms. Zhang weaved magical realism, as well as an explanation of Chinese calligraphy. A fascinating read into what makes up the calligraphy symbols, and how the protagonist, Daiyu, interprets them.

This book was a globe-trotting adventure, going from China to the American West. There are certainly many interesting, and fascinating, characters throughout the novel.

I was surprised at Daiyu’s naivete, however. The novel seems to be written from an American optimistic viewpoint, where one expects things to work out all the time, and be surprised when they don’t. A novel about darkness and violence should embrace those aspects, but I felt the story constantly stopped short of going into the realm of the uncomfortable. Sadly, the story never really came together though, I always felt I Daiyu was missing “something” a

The writing, however, is skillful, as well as inspiring. I enjoyed the many fascinating details of Chinese life, as well as the racism and hardships they faced both in Chin and the American West.

This historic fiction novel goes in directions I wasn't quite expecting. The story is heart wrenching and it's a great exposure of the dark history of the United States. The struggles of the Chinese immigrants, fighting for the right to just "be". I was rooting for the protagonist and my heart was breaking at so many points in the novel. There were times I was silenced by the power of the narrative. This book would make an excellent pick for a book club.

Daiyu is only a child when her parents go missing, and her grandmother tells her she must disguise herself as a boy and disappear into the city to avoid the same fate. She finds safety cleaning a calligraphy school, but only for a short while before being kidnapped and smuggled into the U.S., where she must escape a terrible fate and growing anti-Chinese sentiments.

This is, like, A LITTLE LIFE levels of tragic and devastating. It's beautifully written, with sweeping prose and immersive visual descriptions. Daiyu's story is heartbreaking from beginning to end, with only brief moments of happiness sprinkled in. The most devastating part is that it's inspired by a true story. It's a powerful and emotional story about the long history of anti-Chinese racism in the U.S. CW for pretty much everything you can imagine.

How do you restore agency over your life when you have few choices and you’re forced to hide your identity to survive? Such is the central question within Four Treasures of the Sky, an enlightening and haunting coming-of-age tale about a Chinese teenager trying to outpace what she believes is a tragic destiny.

Lin Daiyu has always hated her name, taken from a legendary heroine who sadly died young after a romantic betrayal. Even so, she enjoys an idyllic childhood with her loving parents and grandmother in a coastal fishing village. Her world changes in an instant after her mother and father, talented tapestry-makers, suddenly vanish. For Daiyu’s safety, her grandmother sends her off alone, disguised as a boy, to the city of Zhifu, where she’s taken in by a master calligrapher and surreptitiously picks up his skills. The lessons that calligraphy teaches her remain throughout her life.

Once again, her time of peace and learning isn’t to last. While visiting a fish market in 1882, at age thirteen, she’s kidnapped, forced to learn English (for greater appeal to her future white customers), and shipped inside a coal bucket to San Francisco, where she’s sold into a prosperous brothel run by the ambitious Madam Lee and renamed “Peony.” Her adventures, such as they are, don’t end there.

With her outer persona – her name, clothing, gender – repeatedly changed, Daiyu must conceal her true self, with the ghost of the long-dead Lin Daiyu echoing in her head yet unable to help her. The way Zhang portrays Daiyu’s interior life is breathtakingly complex and works well in keeping with the trials she endures. Daiyu speaks in first-person present tense, without quotation marks for dialogue, which causes only rare confusion between her narrative and others’ speech.

In an era where almost everyone seeks to crush her humanity – we see many examples of bigotry, and of how Chinese girls are considered disposable – Daiyu’s voice sings out clearly. In her author’s note, Zhang writes of her purpose in bringing the history of systemic discrimination and violence against the Chinese into the popular consciousness, especially with the rising number of hate crimes against Asians in the U.S. today. Historical fiction is an ideal vehicle for revealing little-known stories such as this, and Daiyu’s personal story – which she fiercely owns at last – is one people need to hear.

A spellbinding debut novel of a young Chinese girl’s odyssey from a loving home in China to the American West amid the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882., and the many identities she must assume as she tries to survive. The protagonist is Lin Daiyu, whose parents have mysteriously disappeared for reasons she cannot understand. Her grandmother disguises her as a boy and sends her to the city to hide from the family’s enemies. Her journey for survival forces her to reinvent herself over and over again. From a calligraphy school in China, to a brothel in San Francisco, then a small store in the Idaho mountains, Through all of these identities she is accompanied by the moody ghost of her namesake, a tragic heroine, who lives inside her and ultimately helps Daiyu rediscover her true name and voice.

I love a good historical fiction novel, especially one that helps to understand what one might have felt at that time- empathy for the character is important. I’m also a sucker for magical realism if done right, so this was right up my alley.

In Daiyu’s story I got to get a feel for China at that time, for their art and their legends. I got to see the atrocities some faced- kidnapping (human trafficking), and the crazy amount of antisemitism that the Chinese endured in America at that time.

Part of me is appalled, I want to say that that would never happen here…. but it’s still a thing. We have watched hate crimes against the Chinese and other races here recently- heck, it wasn’t long ago that someone tried to burn the local mosque down. Many fear what they don’t understand… which is one of the reasons I feel books like this are so important. It shows me how someone different lived, how they felt, and allowed me not just to understand that something happened, but to empathize with anyone that may have gone through it (though these people would be long gone by now).
The writing here is beautiful, the choice of phrase almost lyrical and brilliant. That said, this is definitely not a fast read. It often moves slowly, the pacing meandering through the ins and outs of a San Francisco brothel; a Chinese town; a mining town in Idaho. I especially appreciated the addition of Lyn Daiyu, the specter of a legend that accompanied Daiyu all her life. I loved the main character in all her incarnations- Feng, Peony, Jacob Li… and finally Daiyu. I was charmed by the whole story and am planning to buy a paper copy for myself as well as one for my library. For me, this is a very imaginative five stars.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
On the adult content side, there is a lot. Trigger warnings- there’s obviously kidnapping, human trafficking, molestation, and severe racism/ violence. It was all done fairly tastefully, but it was hard to read. I would definitely say this book is geared toward adults- New Adults (17+) at the very least.
I had the good fortune of receiving an eARC of this book from Netgalley and Flatiron books in exchange for an honest review. My thanks!

The book came out today- go get it

Oh Daiyu. How I want to sit with her, and perhaps awkwardly attempt to give her some comfort. Abducted from her home in China and smuggled to America, Daiyu is forced to give herself new identities to stay alive. With the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, America is a wasteland of anti-Chinese sentiment, which Daiyu struggles to navigate, as she tries to find a way home.

This book is beautifully written, and incredibly difficult to read. Zhang provides a meticulously researched backdrop of what Chinese immigrants endured during that time. Daiyu draws on lessons from her calligraphy teacher, Master Wang, to guide her actions through life, as she tries to find a place in the world. Time after time, Daiyu reinvents herself to survive, and I couldn’t help but root for her the whole way.

If you’re a fan of Warrior on HBO, this book runs along similar lines, with the tension between police and the Chinese, and the lack of justice for Chinese who were falsely accused. But while Warrior is more fantastical, in that the Chinese characters get to win sometimes, Four Treasures show the dark reality of what Chinese Americans endured.

I will certainly read anything that Jenny Tinghui Zhang writes next, even if it will break my heart again. 4.5/5⭐️
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Content warnings: kidnapping, sexual assault, human trafficking, hate crimes, racial slurs, execution
Thank you to @netgalley and @flatiron_books for the e-arc of this book.

Four Treasures of the Sky is a treasure for the serious reader. Although the first part is reminiscent of many books of historical fiction that use the same formula - Chinese girl is kidnapped, treated badly, transported to America, and consigned to a brothel - it quickly distinguishes itself from the others by Zhang's outstanding prose that elucidates the novel's purpose to highlight America's long-standing cruel and still relevant treatment against people from China and those who have Chinese ancestry. Compared to most historical fiction, Four Treasures of the Sky is more character-driven, thought-provoking, heart-grabbing, and heart-breaking. It also distinguishes itself from much historical fiction by its realism and by its ending. The book is not an "easy read," and I think that many readers will either fail to read it for more than the story or will give up because it does not parallel a Hallmark-like production. But, readers who are pulled into Four Treasures of the Sky will never forget it.