The dreamlike story of a young woman in contemporary Beijing forging a different life for herself, from one of our brightest new literary stars.
One morning in autumn, just after breakfast, Jia Jia finds her husband dead in the bathtub of their Beijing apartment.
Next to him is a piece of folded paper, a sketch of a strange creature from his dream. He has left her no other sign. Young, alone, and with many unanswered questions, Jia Jia sets out on a journey. It takes her deep into her past where, for the very first time, she begins to have a sense of her future.
Braised Pork by An Yu
An Yu (安於) was born and raised in Beijing, and spent parts of her life studying and working in London, New York, and Paris. She received her MFA from New York University and writes her fiction in English. She is the author of the novels Braised Pork (2020) and Ghost Music (2022). Her writing has also appeared in The Sunday Times Style, Freeman’s, Literary Hub, The Wall Street Journal, among other publications.
She currently lives in Hong Kong.