Synopses & Reviews
A
New York Times Notable Book
In a first novel of "vivid, harrowing beauty" (People), Murphy surveys the landscape of war and peace through the unflinching gaze of an adolescent girl. Set in Indochina in the 1940s, The Sea of Trees is narrated by Tian, who is taken prisoner when the Japanese invade Shanghai. Based on stories from the author's own family history and laced with Chinese folklore, this startling novel "could not be more artful" (Los Angeles Times).
Review
"[A] vivid and often powerful, although almost as often curiously perfunctory, girl's-eye saga of a wildly endangered life in the Far East during and after WW II....An indefatigably forward-going if often poetic story of girlhood and family amid war, terror, loss and sometimes luck." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"This inspiring view of the unvanquished human soul belongs in all collections." Francisca Goldsmith, Library Journal
Review
"[A] dreamlike progression of glinting surfaces, telling gestures and precisely rendered moments in which matter-of-fact horror butts up against absurdist hilarity
. Murphy imbues her world, ultimately, with a lush timelessness, shot through with surprising buoyancy and hope." Catherine Bush, New York Times Book Review