George Lee’s novel, Dancing in the River, had me from its opening paragraph, which references Hemingway, and the writing material provided by his unhappy childhood. With vivid sensory details, lyrical language and beautiful, precise descriptions, Lee brings us directly into childhood in China, bringing the reader with him in to his aim, as he described in his book’s opening, of being both “the experiencer and the experienced.” At the end of the book, the reader feels transported into a story that simultaneously feels both fable-like, and undoubtedly real. Dancing in the River is a story that will stay with you for a long time.

-- Danila Botha, author of For All The Men (and Some of The Women) I’ve Known and Things That Cause Inappropriate Happiness

This is the kind of literary fiction that it is Guernica Editions’ honour to publish. It crosses linguistic, literary, cultural, and political borders and enriches North American English prose through the use of strong, poetic, and transparent language. This book reiterates Guernica’s vision of “no borders, no limits.” At a time when democracies are under attack and totalitarian regimes are strengthening their hold over captive populations, this book tells the story of what brings refugees and immigrants to Canada.    

An extremely well-read author conversant in two languages and cultures, George Lee creates a work of imagination the reader can inhabit intellectually and emotionally. His writing opens a unique window into another tradition of storytelling. Not a translation or an apology, it is a conversation between the two worlds. 

“In this book, I am both the author and reader, the experiencer and the experienced, the thinker and the watcher, the dreamer and the dream, the father and the son. Most importantly, between the two ends of the spectrum, I am a silent witness,” George Lee, Dancing in the River

-- Banoo Zan, author of Songs of Exile and Letters to My Father

Guernica Prize winning title.

George Lee will be featured in a launch and events in Vancouver, BC, as well as in various virtual events. 

Stay tuned for the Goodreads Giveaway for Dancing in the River.

Physical review copies available.