Under Fishbone Clouds is a universal love story, a family saga, and a journey through Chinese history, myth, and culture.  Following a young Chinese couple as their love grows, and is tested, during Mao's Cultural Revolution, this elegant debut novel provides a rare and personal glimpse into the birth modern China. When the Kitchen God is challenged by the Jade Emperor to fathom the workings of the human heart, he chooses to follow the life of Jinyi and his wife Yuying, from their blossoming love until their old age, in hope of finding an answer. The Kitchen God watches as the new government strictures split their family in two, living inside their hearts as they live through war, separation, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and the start of a new era. They endure the loss of those closest to them, homesickness, and isolation, all while keeping alive a love that survives famine, forced labor, and even death itself. Weaving together the story of their life with China’s recent political history, as well as traditional folktales and myths, the Kitchen God illuminates the most impenetrable aspects the human condition.


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“Meekings’s accomplished first novel is based on the lives of his Chinese wife’s grandparents. An unlikely love story set against the events of the last half-century in China, it’s a tale of terrible suffering that also manages to be a poetic evocation of the country and its people…His exuberance and verve win out. He imbues “Under Fishbone Clouds” with a magical atmosphere.”  

– The New York Times


“Lavishly imagined and skillfully narrated,”

– The Independent


“Utterly beautiful and memorable”

– Scotland on Sunday
“Meekings is a bangup storyteller, and his easy handling of rich and varied material--rustic splendor, class warfare, profound anguish, drastic social changes--will keep readers rapt. This is a beautifully told love story as well as an absorbing study in Chinese folklore and history."”

– Publishers Weekly

“A powerful and mesmerizing novel, both mythic and intimate.  Sam Meekings has a maturity of insight and theme not commonly found in a young writer.  This is a masterful accomplishment of imagination, insight, and lyricism.”

– Amy Tan
“This intricate tale of love, folklore and one of the most turbulent and terrible times in modern history is as beautifully woven as a silk tapestry.”

– The Lady

“Sam Meekings’s remarkable debut novel…it’s more than interesting, it’s captivating, and all the more so for being real.”

– The Scotsman

“Beautifully written. It is an enthralling debut.”

– Waterstones Quarterly

“…hails the arrival of an intriguing new talent. Historical fiction is at something of a discount right now. This revives it, freshly.”

– The Herald
“As utterly engrossing as it is well penned, this is a wonderful debut about the lengths that love can take us.”

– Booklist