Book Club - Ann Liang’s A Song to Drown Rivers

Final Draft - Great Conversations

Ann Liang is a New York Times bestselling author of YA novels This Time It’s Real, If You Could See the Sun, and I Hope This Doesn't Find You. Ann’s new novel is A Song to Drown Rivers.

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In the fractured kingdom of the Yue, Xishi is regarded as a peerless beauty.

Her beauty is famous across her homeland and leads her to be sought out by the advisor to the king. The Yue have suffered terrible defeats at the hands of the Wu. This humiliation and the threat of ongoing war has lead the king to try a desperate plan. With Xishi’s help they will infiltrate the Wu king’s court, win his heart and overthrow his tyrannical rule.

Thrust deep into the heart of the enemy Wu kingdom, Xishi must use all her skills, not only to survive but to bring justice for her people.

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A Song to Drown Rivers is based on the ancient Chinese story of Xishi, one of the four famed beauties of legend. From this source material Liang weaves a compelling tale that blends political intrigue with the all too human story of Xishi.

The conceit that Xishi is valued only for her beauty is tested against the development of the character as she prepares to enter the enemy Wu kingdom. Early on Xishi is shown to be jaded by her reputation as a beauty and longs to find more purpose than that found at the end of a man’s gaze.

Through her training and then in the court of the Wu King Fuchai Xishi is challenged to be bold and clever if she is to rise above the level of concubine.

The novel works hard to explore the inner world of Xishi and build on the legend that exists through history. We see Xishi questioning the rituals of the court and comparing them to the practicality of her village life. Xishi must confront that the tragedy of her family's life and loss through the war is mirrored in many other families, including those of the Wu.

Xishi is also embroiled in an impossible love story that can only be further complicated by her mission to seduce the king.

A Song to Drown Rivers works to complicate the romance and spectacle of so many epic tales of Kingdom’s clashing. Xishi is both an ethereal figure of legend and a kind of every person, struggling to find a morality that can encompass the brutal world she finds herself in.

Ann Liang’s writing takes in the source material and embellishes it both for our times and with a sense of pacy, engrossing storytelling. Xishi’s tale rockets forward even as we feel the encroaching moment where she must make a decision about who she is after so long living a lie.

This book is a must read, ready to appeal to lovers of epics, history, war and romance. It hits its beats in thoughtful and engaging ways and had me hanging on to the last page.