“Friendship, family secrets, young love, and loss mingle with political activism in desperate times in Lai Wen’s brilliant Tiananmen Square, a novel that reveals truths about the past, a lens through which to view the present, and a warning shot for the future. Wen carries the weight of this pivotal point in history with astonishing grace and finesse.” — Meg Waite Clayton, New York Times best-selling author of The Postmistress of Paris and The Last Train to London
"An extraordinary book. Truly important. An act of historical testimony all the more trenchant and devastating for being cast as fiction." — William Boyd, author of Any Human Heart
"A touching story of Tiananmen memory, just like a fireside whisper with love and tears. Lai Wen is a brilliant storyteller." — Xinran, author of Sky Burial and The Good Women of China
"Surprises abound . . . in this pensive tale of life under totalitarian rule. . . . A revealing addition to the literature of the democracy movement in China." — Kirkus Reviews
“Acute and intimate.” — Bookseller
“Debut author Lai (a necessary pseudonym, given Beijing’s continued hostility to critics of the 1989 crackdown) writes with candor and vulnerability as personal and social anxieties blur into political unrest. In its unabashed affection for twentieth-century classics, this tale also reminds us that literature remains a vital means of resistance to anti-democratic forces.” — Booklist (starred review)
“Tiananmen Square is a deeply humane account of a horrific act of state violence that the Chinese authorities have attempted to erase from history. As well as being a compelling coming-of-age tale, it’s a powerful act of remembrance.” — Financial Times
“In a work of fiction that feels like a memoir, Tiananmen Square is a beautiful and devastating read." — Irish Times
“This tender, autobiographical coming-of-age tale . . . poignant and powerful.” — Daily Mail (UK)
“Wen’s intimate chronicle of growing up as a woman in 1970s and 1980s Beijing . . . makes you feel you are there, with her narrator. The result is intimate as well as epic, turning her book from a key testimony of a historic tragedy into a work of finely wrought fiction. . . .Wen displays the same patience, precision and calm intelligence as [Elena] Ferrante as she stitches together her tapestry of female relationships, falling in love and coming into political awareness. ” — Sunday Times (London)
"Captivating . . . An utterly gripping book, and a must for prize shortlists." — The Spectator
A piercing coming-of-age novel. . . . Wen brings the past to life in this deeply personal narrative." — Publishers Weekly
“Incredibly powerful and moving . . . feels like a love letter to innocence, to hope, to freedom . . . An eloquent and penetrating coming-of-age novel.” — Lovereading.co.uk
“It is hard not to be carried away by this tale of friendship and self-discovery amid a righteous cause. There’s a useful reminder here that bravery must be individual before it can become collective.” — Wall Street Journal
“[A] thoughtful, moving narrative of coming to political consciousness in a time of danger.” — Los Angeles Times
“An emotionally satisfying coming-of-age tale around a riveting account of the months-long student protests and the horrific, fateful night that Chinese troops cracked down with bullets and tanks....Tiananmen Square reminds us that while the hearts and actions of student protesters may be imperfect, their anguish and desire to be heard are deeply felt.”
— Washington Post