As the Earth Turns Silver

FICTION FINALIST

As the Earth Turns Silver
Alison Wong
Penguin Group (NZ)
ISBN 9780143011675
RRP $37.00

From the late nineteenth century to the 1920s, from China to New Zealand – a story of two families. Yung faces a new land that does not welcome the Chinese. Alone, Katherine struggles to raise her children and find her place in the world. In a climate of hostility towards the foreign newcomers, Katherine and Yung embark on a poignant and far-reaching love affair.

Alison Wong was born and raised in Hawke’s Bay and, apart from several years in China, has spent most of her adult life in the Wellington region. At Victoria University she studied mathematics, and later, creative writing. At one time she worked in IT. In 2002 she was the Robert Burns Fellow at Otago University. Her collection, Cup (Steele Roberts), was shortlisted for the Jessie Mackay Best First Book for Poetry at the 2007 Montana New Zealand Book Awards, and her poetry was selected for Best New Zealand Poems 2006 and 2007.