DREAMS OF THE RED PHOENIX
Book ID/图书代码： 02330015B78444
English Summary/英文概要： In the dangerous summer of 1937, American missionary Shirley Carson grieves for her husband, recently lost and presumed dead in a landslide in North China. As she prepares to return to the United States with her teenage son, the Japanese Imperial Army launches an attack in the nearby countryside and Chinese peasants swarm into the mission compound for protection. Shirley and her servants welcome the frightened Chinese into their home. A charismatic Red Army officer oversees the incoming injured and Shirley steps forward to offer her skills as a trained nurse. Captain Xu entices her to set up a medical clinic in her house by sharing the surprising news that her late husband, the Reverend Caleb Carson, had been a devoted ally to the Communist cause. Shirley wonders what else she had not known about him, and also about her servants, who she senses are involved in the revolutionary activity brewing around them in North China.
Meanwhile Charles, Shirley’s sheltered and cocky fifteen-year-old son starts to grow up quickly as he searches the nearby town for a missing Chinese friend and sees the devastation caused by the outbreak of war. He understands before his mother does that they must leave North China right away. But at her clinic, Shirley feels a rising sense of purpose and is determined to stay and help. Having grown up privileged, but lonely, she admires the communal ideals of the Reds, and experiences camaraderie and a shared sense of conviction for the first time in her life. When she visits a Red Army camp, she meets their leader who she hopes will appreciate her newfound zeal, but instead he calls her foolish for placing herself in danger where she does not belong. He orders her to return to America, but by then, it’s too late, and the Japanese capture her.
With her life threatened, Shirley is forced to choose between betraying her newfound friends with their high ideals or abandoning her beloved son and the safety of everything she knows.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 1937年7月7日，卢沟桥一声枪响，中华民族开始了长达八年的奋勇抗争。在那个战火纷飞的年代，涌现出这样一个凄美动人的故事……
日本帝国主义的炮火已开始蔓延至大半个中国，在那个危机四伏的夏日里，美国传教士Shirley Carson整日沉浸在失去丈夫的悲痛中难以自拔——近期，他的丈夫在华北的一场山体滑坡中失去了联系，生死未卜。当她准备带着十几岁的儿子返回美国之时,日本皇军在附近的农村发动了一场空袭，为了避难，大量的中国农民像潮水般涌入Shirley的居所。这位善良的母亲和仆人们向惊恐万状的平民们敞开了大门， 竭尽所能为他们提供帮助。一位帅气非凡的红军走进了她的生活，他主动照料起源源不断的伤员们, 而Shirley则开始承担起了护士的职责。那位姓徐的将领带来了一个惊天动地的消息：他的丈夫——德高望重的Caleb Carson牧师已为伟大的共产主义事业而献身。Shirley的内心为之一振，为了追随丈夫未竟的事业, 她把自己的家改造成了一个小诊所, 以期让更多的伤员得到救治。Shirley迫切想知道她丈夫失踪那段时间的全部消息；此外，她似乎察觉出了一丝异样的气息：她觉得她的仆人们正卷入一股华北地区的抗战势力中。
与此同时，Shirley 15岁的儿子——Charles已出落成一个英俊自信的少年；为了寻找一位失踪的中国小伙伴，。他几乎寻遍了附近的村庄；在那里，他亲眼所见了战争所带来的生灵涂炭。他当即决定他们必须马上离开华北。然而，她的母亲Shirley却感觉内心有一种与日俱增的使命感，留下来帮助伤员成了她最大的心愿。尽管Shirley出生于一个优渥的家庭，自己的生活也衣食无忧，但是，她十分钦佩红军所宣扬的共产主义理想,在这段岁月中，她也第一次体会到共产主义的博爱之情。过了几天，她来到了红军营地，在那里，她向徐将领表达了她加入共产党的决心，原以为他会被她的一腔热情所感动, 没想到他断然拒绝了她的“愚蠢”行为，认为她这样只会把自己陷入十分危险的境地。他命令她马上回美国, 但到那时, 已经太晚了,日本人抓了她。
此时此刻，她的生命已受到了严重的威胁, Shirley不得不在两者之间作出抉择： 要么背叛那些具有崇高理想的共产主义朋友们，或者永远抛弃她心爱的儿子以及牺牲所有人的安全。(Susie)
Awards/获奖情况：• “Gripping, convincing, and heartbreaking, DREAMS OF THE RED PHOENIX is powerfully evocative of the complexities of life in 1930’s China. A real page-turner and thought-provoker—wonderful.” – Gish Jen
Might this essay by Virginia Pye appearing on LitHub be informative to those publishers considering her novel?
“A Woman Alone in China,” an essay by Virginia Pye, on the Literary Hub
http://lithub.com/a-woman-alone-in-china/
About the Author/作者介绍： Virginia Pye 拥有萨拉〃劳伦斯学院艺术硕士专业学位，目前她在宾夕法尼亚大学和纽约大学教授写作，作为里士满的一家非营利文学组织，三届詹姆士河作家协会主席，她曾在多家文学期刊杂志发表过几部获奖短篇小说，其中包括《北美评论，The North American Review》, 《美国坦帕评论Tampa Review》 和 《巴尔的摩评论，The Baltimore Review》，作者现今定居于（美国弗吉尼亚首府）里士满。Virginia Pye holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and has taught writing at the University of Pennsylvania and New York University. Her highly acclaimed first novel, River of Dust, is also a historical novel set in China. Her father, Lucian W. Pye, was born and raised in China and became an eminent political scientist and sinologist. Her grandfather, Watts O. Pye, was a founder of the Oberlin College-Shansi Program which took him and his wife, Gertrude, to China as the first returning missionaries after the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. Her grandmother stayed in China after the death of her husband and fled with her son—Virginia’s father—on the last ship out of China to the U.S. following Pearl Harbor.
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