Their Divine Fires

by Wendy Chen

A family saga that begins at the dawn of the Chinese Revolution and spans 100 years to trace the intricate lives of four generations of Chinese and Chinese American women 

In 1917, at the dawn of the Chinese Revolution, Yunhong grows up in the southern China countryside and falls in love with the son of a wealthy landlord—but on the night of her wedding, her brother destroys the marriage before it has lasted even a day. Yunhong’s daughter Yuexin will never know her father. She passes that sorrow on to her daughters Hongxing and Yonghong, who come of age in the years following Mao’s death, battling the push and pull of political forces as they forge their own paths. Each generation guards its secrets, leaving Emily, living in contemporary America, to piece together what actually happened between her mother and her sister, and to understand the weight of their shared history.

Genres: Historical Fiction, China, Fiction, Adult, Audiobook, Historical, Asia

288 pages, Hardcover

First published May 7, 2024

About the author

Wendy Chen is the author of the novel THEIR DIVINE FIRES (Algonquin Books, 2024) and the poetry collection UNEARTHINGS (Tavern Books, 2018). Her translations of Song-dynasty woman writer Li Qingzhao are forthcoming from Farrar, Straus & Giroux on 2/25/2025 in a collection titled THE MAGPIE AT NIGHT.

Chen is the recipient of prizes and fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, MacDowell, & elsewhere. Her writing has appeared widely in prestigious venues such as Freeman's, A Public Space, & Lit Hub. Her work has been translated into multiple languages and adapted into musical compositions. She has taught and spoken at colleges, universities, and arts organizations such as the Academy of American Poets, Poets & Writers, Poetry Foundation, & Yale University.

She is the Editor of Figure 1, Prose Editor of Tupelo Press, and Associate Editor-in-Chief of Tupelo Quarterly. She earned her MFA in poetry from Syracuse University and her PhD in English from the University of Denver. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Reviews

[Sujoya - theoverbookedbibliophile · Rating 3 out of 5]

“’It is our history that sets us apart from other families,’ Da Ge said. ‘History that sets others apart from us.’”

Their Divine Fires by Wendy Chen is a multigenerational family saga that follows four generations of Chinese and Chinese American women as they navigate through personal loss and tragedy, social and political upheaval and much more. Spanning over a century, we follow our characters through a period of great political and social change in China – from the communist party and peasant revolts leading up to the Chinese Revolution, Japan’s invasion of China, the Cultural Revolution- to present day China and the United States. As the narrative progresses, we follow these characters and bear witness to their hardship, their strength and sacrifices and the consequences of the choices they make and the secrets they keep.

The story begins in the southern China countryside in 1917 with ten-year-old Yunhong and is shared from the perspectives of the main characters across four generations. The story continues with Yuexin, Yunhong’s daughter in China. Yonhong, one of Yuexin’s daughters, emigrates with her family to the United States while her sister Hongxing stays in China and pursues a career in acting. In the United States, Yonhong’s daughter Emily, is motivated to explore the history of the women when she chances upon an old trunk, the contents of which tell a story of love, loss and family secrets.

I loved the premise of this novel. The prose is elegant and I loved the symbolism and the vivid descriptions of the traditions as well as the setting in the first half of the novel. However, I wish the author had woven the significance of the symbolism of the shared birthmark more strongly into the narrative. The author depicts the complicated relationships and friction between the characters realistically, both from the perspectives of the characters concerned as well as those who observe them. The beginning of the story drew me in and I was immersed ( and invested ) in Yunhong’s story, which ends abruptly and we move on to the next generation with more time jumps, long gaps in the narrative and more telling than showing. The disjointed nature of the narrative that follows and the uneven pacing prevented me from connecting with any of the other characters in the story. Certain aspects of the story could have been explored more deeply and the fates of a few of the characters (who were important to the story) are only mentioned in passing as the narrative progresses.

I read an ARC of this novel and am not aware whether the finished copy includes a Note on the historical context of this story. If it does, I believe your reading experience might be richer than my own. Though I wasn’t entirely ignorant of the political landscape of China which serves as a backdrop for this story, I felt that perhaps a bit more perspective or even a well penned Historical Note would have allowed for a better comprehension of the events that were defining moments in the characters’ lives, thereby rendering this short novel more impactful.

Many thanks to Algonquin Books for the digital review copy via NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing for the ALC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This novel was published on May 7, 2024.

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[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel relates the story of a Chinese family from 1917 to 2018, so it covered multiple periods of Chinese history and culture. It contained so many elements I love – a family saga and Chinese history, including the Cultural Revolution. Unfortunately, for me, the novel was unfulfilling. There were many characters, some of whom I felt were only outwardly developed for purposes of the plot. In addition, the underlying historical events were not explained for a reader who didn’t know about various events in Chinese history (the overthrow of the warlords, the rise of communism, the Cultural Revolution, worship of Mao, the Red Guard, etc.). Luckily, I did know about these events, but some background would have made the novel flow better in my opinion. I did find that I enjoyed the story more as it progressed – I just didn’t like it as much as I had hoped to.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Upon first glance, I immediately jumped at the chance to read "Their Divine Fires"; a multi-generational novel focused on a family of Chinese women at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries? As a Chinese-American female myself, I was excited to read a novel that might mirror my family's and my own experiences from a perspective that isn't widely written about.

The novel is told chronologically across different perspectives, beginning with Yunhong, a young girl who grows up at the precipice of the Chinese Cultural Revolution in the countryside of Liuyang. With her father as a respected doctor and two older brothers on the path to being respected scholars, her life should be a peaceful one - especially after she saves the life of a wealthy merchant's son and is promised that he'll return for her. Her life is altered though, when her oldest brother destroys her future plans, and Yunhong raises her daughter Yuexin without a father - and Yuexin later gives birth to two twin girls named Yonghong and Hongxin. The middle portion is told primarily from Yonghong's perspective; she envies her twin for her aptitude towards dance and music and struggles to find her own footing. The policies of the Cultural Revolution also alter her path in life, eventually causing her to leave for America to build a new life for her own daughter Emily outside of Boston, while her sister Hongxin remains in China and rises as a budding celebrity. Emily grows up straddling two worlds, never quite understanding the truth behind her family story and the complex relationship the women in her family have with each other.

There is a lot in this deceptively short novel that I appreciated - highlighting just how deeply the policies of the Cultural Revolution and Mao Zedong's actions changed the lives for Chinese people; the deep-seated generational trauma that can carry through many years; and the difficult decisions women have had to make over the years to survive. Yunhong's story was the most captivating for me, and I deeply connected with her desire to make her own path for herself.

However, there were definitely things I struggled with in this novel as well; for readers who have little to no background on the Cultural Revolution, much of the events and policies will be confusing and make little sense, especially as there isn't much context given to the earlier conflict between the Kuomintang and Mao's Communist Party as well as the forced "send downs" of city/urban dwellers to the countryside. I also found that there were just too many characters in this novel - four generations of women the relevant side characters in each of their storylines - is a lot to pack in, and made it difficult to keep each one separate from the others. Because of this, there isn't sufficient attention paid to each of them, as Yuexin barely makes an appearance in this novel and feels skipped over, and Hongxin's and Emily's perspectives feel overlooked. The pacing is inconsistent as well, and I struggled to get through the middle of this novel as it felt sluggish and uneventful. I think this novel will be promising to those who are intrigued by this time period and setting, but found that the execution of the writing detracted from the overall storyline.

Thank you Algonquin Books for the advance copy of this novel!

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

THEIR DIVINE FIRES is a gorgeously written, multi-generational story about a family enduring and surviving hardship from the Chinese Revolution to the present day. It reminded me of everything I love in books like Pachinko, with haunting, poetic prose exploring the ripples of trauma passed from mother to daughter from generation to generation. Without sharing any spoilers, it's heartbreaking, achingly beautiful, and inspiring all at once, culminating in a final scene that had me tearing up. Its pacing is slow but intentional, with sudden bursts of violence, devastation, and loss that leave you reeling.

I received an eARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Alyson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a sucker for multigenerational stories so this was a perfect choice for me. Very hard topics to read as the family dealt with the changing political landscape of China, but I gained a greater appreciation for the history.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

rushed and underdeveloped, though stuffing four generations of a family saga into ~200 pages would be a tall order for anyone. I’m pretty skeptical in general of this type of multi-generational family saga; I think this type of novel always inevitably ends with the Asian American great-great-grandchild lying spread-eagled on their bed in a suburb somewhere, contemplating their parents’ unhappiness and theorizing that it all probably ties back to the horrible things that must have befallen their ancestors. This is, in fact, essentially how the novel ends. In the final chapters, there’s the requisite gesturing towards inheritance, family, and “the ways that history had already shaped who [the great-granddaughter] was -- and who she might become.”

Otherwise, I liked the mythological influences and I liked how closely the novel hews to Chinese/American history, though the combination creates a jarring effect on the tone. It’s kind of odd to occasionally find contemporary political takes restated in a tone imbued with so much whimsy and seriousness (e.g. on MAGA: “They called for a return to an imagined past -- a past that never was nor could be again.”)

[Barbara Nutting · Rating 4 out of 5]

In these times of political turmoil in our country, I can’t help but see the similarities between Chairman Mao and Donald Trump. They both brainwashed their followers with lies and unfounded truths. That didn’t work out so well in China, I wonder what will happen here. Years more of deceit or will we turn the page?

It was actually the story of generations of Chinese women woven into a tapestry of the Cultural Revolution. A good lesson in history. Well done.

Their names boggled me a bit, but I gradually figured who was who as the story progressed!! All those name changes were confusing

[mel]

Format: audiobook ~ Narrator: Katharine Chin

Thanks to Hachette Audio for the advance copy and this opportunity!

[Antu · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half was so strong but the last few chapters fell off for me. I was confused by the ending as well. A lot of interesting weaving of different topics and histories tho! love how it is intergenerational

[Mai H.]

ANHPI TBR

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Books

[C.R. Comacchio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the opportunity to listen to an ARC of this audiobook.

Wendy Chen is an award-winning poet, writer and editor. This debut novel is inspired by her own family’s history in China and in the United States. In a three-part chronological narrative, she relates a story shaped by Chinese history and culture, folklore and politics. Beginning in rural southern China in 1917, as revolution and world war flare, and culminating in the United States, she follows the sometimes overlapping and always interconnected generations of one family, its marriages, births, deaths and everyday struggles, in a century of great change and upheaval. The China of the first generation has disappeared by the story’s conclusion. The family is American, but, even for the American-born Emily, the heart-ties cannot be easily forgotten.

The first third focuses on the family of a respected rural physician, his older and younger sons, and his middle daughter, the headstrong Yunhong. It follows the family’s fate, and especially that of its women, through the revolution with its hope for a better world and its disintegration into rival camps, clashing ideologies, and bloody conflict. The eldest son is a diehard Communist, the younger less so, but both take part in destroying the wealthy noble family that Yunhong marries into. At their hands, the happiest day of her life becomes the worst, presaging what is to come for her, her family, and China.

Suddenly a pregnant young widow, she is left to raise her child under a pretext that saves her family’s honour but poisons her relationship with her daughter, Yuexin, and plants the seeds for troubled relations across multiple generations. As China falls to Japan, and with her brothers gone, she saves her parents and child, who knows her only as a cousin and never knows her father. When they escape their village, Yunhong reveals her true identity to the then 9 year old Yuexin, who never forgives her.

The great-grandparents and Yunhong fade into the background rather abruptly in the second part, as the story’s refocuses on Yuexin’s twin daughters, Hongxing and Yonghong. Marked by their mother’s unwillingness to come to terms with her tragic history, and their parents’ troubled marriage, the girls come of age during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Despite being twins, they are not close; their mother openly favours the pretty, talented, charming Hongxing over her subdued, serious, clumsy sister. They take very different paths. Clever and ambitious, Hongxing does all the right things and becomes a celebrated dancer and actress. Yonghong, studious and questioning, is unmoored by the death of her childhood love, who was “sent down” to the countryside to work alongside many others until their bodies gave out. With only dark visions of the future, she leaves for the United States, where she meets and marries another Chinese ex-pat in college.

As the third part opens, Hongxing is a celebrity, wealthy, adored by the masses and the government, and secretly in love with a female fellow dancer. She is firmly attached to China, which has allowed her to have everything she dreamed of as a child. By contrast, with only dark visions of the future, Yonhong leaves for the United States, where she meets and marries another Chinese ex-pat in college. When she is expecting their first and only child, her mother arrives to take care of them.

Although China runs through their post-immigration lives, the novel’s closing section is largely Emily’s story. Raised mostly by her grandmother, Emily grows up with strict and distant parents who seem to be burying the stories that she needs to know in order to feel connected to them and their culture. Her aunt and other kin visit occasionally, and briefly, hints are dropped, allusions are made. But no questions are answered, no information about their previous lives is offered. Then a number of precipitous events slowly crack open the sealed past. As a young adult, Emily is begins to fill out her own identity with the missing pieces of theirs.

This is a beautifully written, very moving story, steeped in the vivid and often terrible twentieth century history of China. It also speaks sensitively to the immigrant experience, especially in view of what was being left behind—nightmares, yes, but also familial and cultural roots. Her evocation of the way in which people experienced the Cultural Revolution and its aftermath is breathtaking in what it reveals of the gap between noble ideals and what really happened. The “in between” status of first generation children of immigrants is also very realistically rendered. I only wish that the novel could have been longer, at least in the middle section, which seems to lop off the opening part rather than transitioning. Although all three sections are about the children and young people born into that time and place, the author makes their family history integral, as it has to be, to their growing up. She especially succeeds in showing how the wider history touches ordinary lives irrevocably, and she does so very effectively. Also impressive is the clear and emotive narration by Katherine Chin. I came away with an understanding that nation and family, love and loyalty, have intricately bound meanings.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Copy provided by publisher]

READ IF YOU LIKE...
• Multi-generational sagas
• Lost love
• Exploring China's history

I THOUGHT IT WAS...
A reflection on family and cultural legacy that didn't hit quite as hard as it could have. Yunhong marries the love of her life, but a group invades her husband's family home a day later, killing him. That group included her older brother. The legacy of that rupture, coupled with China's tumultuous history, vibrates through the women of Yunhong's family.

For me, this novel shines in the beginning and the end. Yunhong's story, which sets up the lineage of women throughout the rest of the book, is captivating, told in a dynamic and vibrant voice. It flows smoothly. Every scene feels meaningful. I really wish the subsequent sections that follow Yunhong's descendants had been the same.

One of the challenges with multi-generational stories is finding ways to tie successive generations back to what is set up with the oldest generation. You don't want it to be too obvious, but the tie needs to be present; otherwise, each new family member's story feels unmoored. And this is what happens in this novel. The successive generations' stories are told from a youth's perspective and in more fragmented segments. Interesting things happen to them and they observe the unhappiness that sits in their older family members. But the weight of meaning isn't there and we end up cutting away from them right as we reach life-changing moments.

The ending clears things up. It points out the thread connecting each generation and also hints at some great uses of symbolism. I just wish this had been imbued more throughout the novel. I would have understood better why I should care about the moments I was shown.

[USOM · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)

Their Divine Fires is about their struggles and loves across times and generations. It's stories about people who survive rebellion, war, and unrest. About love, arranged marriages, and the loss of our loves. It's about legacy, names, and what they mean. But what happens when we have to disavow them? There are big changes which coincide with these moments, on the precipice of a spark of igniting, and changing across the world.

[Sarah Chemplavil · Rating 4 out of 5]

so crazy and so cool that i attended the book launch since she’s a professor at my college. such a beautifully written book

[Elena L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

THEIR DIVINE FIRES follows three generations of Chinese women spanning one hundred years and two continents.

This is a multigenerational family saga that centers around the Zhang family - Zhang Yunhong, a Chinese countryside girl who wants to attend school, falls in love with the son of a wealthy landlord. The story is populated by love stories/affairs, of people sacrificing and giving up for the everlasting love. The romantic relationships felt organic and sweet; and the family bonds, with its flaws, felt heartwarming.

At its core, this novel captures the way huge transformations (after the end of Chinese dynastic rule and Cultural Revolution) impact the characters. How can family bonds endure the brutality of war and trauma? Chen also covers themes of heritage, family, marriage, grief, regret and political conflicts (Guomindang x Communists) with a straightforward writing that acquires a lyrical tone when touching on cultural elements, incorporating a coat of tenderness that makes one immersed in the storytelling.

Part two suffered from the slow pacing - it felt more distant and political. However, part three and four converge in a way that brought back the layers of emotions - they paint a raw depiction of people who survived and lived through changes in a volatile world. The story is chronologically told from multiple POVs and in an attempt to include several perspectives, I wish some characters were further fleshed out. The author infuses Chinese myths in the narrative and I personally thought this is one of the novel's strengths.

Inspired by the author own family’s history, THEIR DIVINE FIRES is a beautiful debut novel. Highly recommend for those wanting to learn more about Chinese history or read a sensitive historical fiction.

ps: I appreciated the family tree, which was helpful at giving a better understanding and smoother transition between POVs

[Dana K · Rating 3 out of 5]

{3.5 stars}

Thanks to Algonquin Books for the gifted copy. All opinions below are my own.

This story follows the women of a family through about 100 years of history from the Chinese revolution through to modern day. We see each generation coping with the change thrust upon them by the government and the impact of those changes on their lives particularly in regards to their loves. Each generation keeps their pain from their children and seems doomed to repeat the stiff upper lip attitude despite their heartbreak.

I liked the history of this story but struggled to connect to the characters as much as I wanted. I think this was due to their containment of emotions and denial of their devastating disappointments. I was most connected to Yunhong and her story but just as her heartbreak begins we get a big time jump, that was a bit too jostling to me and it took me a while to sink into the new story. I appreciated all I learned about the times but felt like this one needed a little smoothing overall.

Read this if you enjoy Lisa See.

[Lorin (paperbackbish) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first part of this story! Yunhong's experiences were fascinating, and I loved the detail included. However, I felt myself growing further from the characters as the tale progressed, and I became confused about what generation we were in and who was who and how they were connected. Overall, I loved the first half or so, but the second lost my interest. I'd have loved for it to focus on fewer characters, or to be drawn out a bit longer so I could connect better with the women in later generations!

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really well written story of a Chinese family, their trials and triumphs navigating the generations through the Cultural Revolution to the present.Their Divine Fires – Wendy Chen
When Ma Ma told her of Diyu, the underworld, she said that it was gray and dark and deep under the earth. It was a city like a human city, but with roads that turned without end. There, souls wandered for decades, centuries, until they could be reborn again.
But without his body getting a proper burial, Yunjun would not be joining the ancestral home. While other souls carried the offerings their living had burned for them, Yunuun would wander through the courts and layers of hell, without even a name. No longer theirs, no longer hers. Something else entirely. (105)
Chairman Mao’s Revolutionary Thought was not only the most important class but also – in Yonghong’s opinion – the most enjoyable. During each class, Teacher Huang had them carefully study the latest essay that Chairman Mao had disseminated to the people. Often, Teacher Huang had Yonghon stand up and read it aloud. This was where Yonghong shines the most – in declarations and announcements. The words gripped her, rushing out of her mouth in a way that seemed out of her control. It was thrilling – the idea that the words inside her had once belonged to the great and honorable Chairman Mao. But no matter how carried away she felt, Yonghong made sure to carefully enunciate each word. It wouldn’t do for his message to get lost in the speaking of it. (112)
The charm was a little bronze bell that hung from a braided loop made of red silk. Wai Po had only showed it to Yonghong and Hongxing once, but the two of them had never forgotten the sight of it. When Wai Po had taken it out of her little lacquered box, the bell rang. The sound the bell made was startling – two tones seemsed to sound at once. Yonghong had never heard anything like it. (129)
“Each and every one of you is a child of Mao. You are all a reflection of his love, which is greater than the heavens and deeper than the sea.” (131)
They knew that they needed to capture their own ghost before she could cause havoc like Wai Po’s big brother had caused. They knew what could happen when ghosts were filled with resentment, when they were uneasy and restless and filled with the desire for retribution. The vengeance of a hungry ghost could be the worst vengeance in the world. (134)

“Charming,” her uncle said, watching the tour guide. He was struck, he explained, by how much of Boston had been preserved throughout history. Not like in China, where so much of the past had been destroyed in the last hundred years. When attempts at preservation failed, construction companies charged with recreating historical buildings so every could have a sense of the past. But attempts at recreation often ended with buildings and neighborhoods that looked more like they came out of movie sets than history. (204)
“I suppose the kinds of stories your mother has aren’t the ones that are easy for her to tell,” he said.
“What do you mean?” asked Emily.
“Well,” he said, “we were the ones who survived. The ones who lived through so many changes. The ones tossed about by history, like leaves in the wind. Sometimes, the past isn’t easy to remember, Sometimes, it’s best to move on.” He smiled. “That’s what most of the ones who left China were trying to do. In all different kinds of ways.” (210)
Whenever it rained, Grandma would always tell Emily that Leigong must be making a fuss up in the heavens.
As the god of thunder, Leigong punished evildoers down on earth with strikes of his hammer and his drum. But his justice was imperfect, Emily knew. He struck in darkness after all. He didn’t care if his strikes were true or false. He only cared for vengeance. His wife was the one who brought the light. She used her mirrors to reflect lightning across the skies. (219)
It would be Qingming – Tomb-sweeping Day – the next day, Hongxing remembered. The day of remembrance for the dead. It was natural for ghosts to come visit you. Ghosts of the dead, and the living…
During Qingming, Wai Po once explained to Hongxing, the boundaries between the worlds of humans and spirits wer at their thinnest. Sometimes, troubles spirits slipped over into our world as well. They could be warded off with prayers and branches of willows. Still, the stronger spirits among them – the most restless – were able to walk among everyone, invisible but seen by some. (241)

“Don’t worry,” her publicist reassured her over the phone. “They’re clearly being written by some water army.” The publicist had suspected it was a rival actress who had hired the army of online users who flooded the forums with negative comments. (264)
“It’s not her I’m afraid of,” Ma said. “She doesn’t love your father. Not really. She thinks she did, but she’s so young. I feel sorry for her. I feel sorry for all of us – loving the wrong people.” (270)
“I know it isn’t your birthday just yet,” she said to Ma. “But I wanted to celebrate while we’re all together. A cake for your future birthday, for whatever is to come.” (275)
Hongxing looked around at all their faces, illuminated by the flame. Shadows dancec across their cheeks. There was something so beautiful about the flickering light, so inviting, that she couldn’t help but inch closer. She wanted to hold the flame in that moment – that moment before it was blown out – the moment when it felt like it would burn forever. (276)

[Dagny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a generational saga divided into four parts, spanning five generations over three-quarters of a century. However, it primarily focuses on the stories of two generations: Mei Mei (Yunhong) and the twins, Hongxing and Yonghong. Among these narratives, Mei Mei’s story stands out as the strongest.
I believe the author is a second-generation Chinese immigrant who has a strong command of the Chinese language and manages to get 98% of the cultural and historical details correct—a commendable feat. Mei Mei’s generation’s story is particularly captivating. However, as the narrative shifts to Hongxing and Yonghong’s story, the book loses momentum and fails to maintain the same level of engagement.
So, what went wrong?
In fiction, a clear protagonist is essential, but in this book, it’s not always clear who the protagonist is. In the first part, it’s evident that Mei Mei is the protagonist. However, as the story shifts to focus on the twins, we lose track of who the central character is. In other words, it becomes unclear whose story the book is about.
There is little exploration of the twins’ parents. Their father has an affair with Teacher Wu, but it’s unclear whether it’s an act of true love, especially since he later turns against her at political meetings, which seems to have contributed to her suicide. The mother also says, “she doesn’t really love him.” But how does the mother know? Again, there’s no explanation. What, then, is it between the father and Teacher Wu, if not true love? Additionally, the mother’s tolerance of the affair is not fully explored.
Furthermore, Teacher Wu hangs herself from the plum blossom tree, and later, their father (her lover) tries to kill the tree. Why? It seems as though he wants to commemorate her, but shouldn’t he wish for the tree to bloom even more vigorously and gloriously in her memory?
A bigger issue lies in the characters’ goals, obstacles and struggles. Hongxing aspires to become a professional dancer yet faces almost no obstacles in her pursuit. Yonghong, on the other hand, seems to lack a clear goal, even though she gains admission to university and later moves to America. Ultimately, it feels as though the twins' story belongs in a different book altogether.
Now, let’s talk about the 2% the author got wrong. First, Emily’s father is described as purely Chinese, yet he has blue eyes. A pure Chinese person does not have blue eyes — that’s a fact.
The second issue is significant. Through Hongxing, the author attempts to draw parallels between communist China and democratic America, seemingly based on the shared trait of patriotism among some Chinese and Americans. However, the differences between the two nations are profound. Their constitutions and values are entirely distinct. China is a tightly controlled totalitarian state, while the United States is a democratic society where leaders and governing parties are elected.
Equating China and Republican states in America simply because both are associated with the color "red" is an oversimplification. More specifically, the author appears to equate Mao’s China with the "red states"—Republican supporters in America. But has communist China ever had an opposition party? Held elections? Guaranteed freedom of speech, the press, demonstration, or association?
In China today, forming any group—even a cycling group—is forbidden. During the Cultural Revolution, when the twins were growing up, individuals lacked even the freedom to think for themselves. How could someone familiar with China’s political realities and with personal ties to the country arrive at such a comparison?
If you want to read diverse stories set in different countries or regions with unique cultures and traditions, the best ones often come from first-generation immigrants. However, such books are rare because language often poses a significant challenge for these authors. Alternatively, you can explore translated works. For second- or third-generation immigrants, language is no longer a barrier, but they often lack the lived experiences and the rich, diverse sources of material that come from firsthand knowledge. This is why the stories they choose to tell often don’t carry the same weight. Many of them try to piece together their family history, and this is exactly what happens in this book, as well as in some similar works. The stories feel less natural and whole, and more like they’ve been forced together. When you read it, you don’t feel immersed in the moment; instead, you feel like a distant observer.
Another issue is that the Chinese names are difficult to follow, even for someone like me who is Chinese. I can’t imagine how English readers manage to keep track of them without constantly referring to the “character map” at the front of the book. Adding to the complexity, the author uses kinship terms as if they were names. For example, Da Ge means "eldest brother," while Ge Ge in the book refers to the second brother, and Mei Mei means "little sister." Why not simply use terms like "First Brother," "Second Brother," and "Little Sister," or "Brother [Name]" instead of Chinese terms that only Chinese speakers would understand?
Last but not least, I don’t see the connection between the title of the book and its contents.

[Rachel Stacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, Algonquin Books and Hachette Audio for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The book started off strong and really made me care about our main character in Part I, Yunhong. As someone lacking much knowledge of the Cultural Revolution in China prior to reading this novel, I think I learned a lot and really feel for what many families had to go through during this time. I found myself confused during parts of this novel because it moves quickly and lacks context in some areas, but that's on me to further educate myself on the subject.

This is a short novel, but it definitely had many elements I enjoyed. There were a lot of good comments on the agency women deserve to choose their own destinies and the difficult decisions they are confronted with. I also found the discussion of generational trauma to be very intriguing and wish it was a topic we spent more time focusing on.


For a multi-generational story, the book felt disjointed, with certain parts gripping me while others dragged. Part of the reason for this was the sheer number of characters in the novel, who were inevitably hard to keep track of and therefore, made it difficult to choose any one character to really root for. I found our main women likable for the most part, but never felt I really knew enough about them to form much of an attachment. I think there are great themes touched on in this book, but because of its shorter length, they only dip a bit below surface level.

I read this book via audio and really enjoyed the narrator. I enjoyed the variety of voices used and found it helped pull me into the story even more! My only problem with the audio version was that I found it very difficult to keep up with the amount of the character names covered in such a small amount of time. I think it would enhance the experience to include a reference guide or family tree along with the audio version of this book.

[Ink · Rating 5 out of 5]

Their Divine Fires by Wendy Chen Narrated by Katharine Chin is more than just a novel, it is a lyrical opus of a families story spanning a century. More than this, it is a family that is symbolic of the human face of enduring through incredibly tumultuous and under-reported times in history. The human face of the people of China

This audiobook was breathtaking to the extent that the book is immediately on my keeper list (I will also quantify this by my own mother having a similar story so this resonated with me on so many levels)

Katharine Chin is a phenomenal narrator and is well suited to the elegant lyricism of the narrative even when the storyline went to more dark and tense places. Beautifully done

I am astounded that this is a debut novel. Gobsmacked. Wendy Chen brings together family history and weaves it with folklore and the history of 20th century China, travelling from the story of her great grandmother to the dichotomy between two cousins in 2018, one in Boston, one still in China

Heart-rending and awe-inspiring, Chen draws the reader into a time long gone, to the fear and bravery of the people through the end days of feudalism, the Cultural Revolution, occupation by the Japanese and the uprising and terror of the 1980's and unrest of the 90s (I remember so well the news reports and the sadly poignant imagery of the time)

This is a novel that arfully draws together the trifecta of family history, historical events and folklore and weaves together an epic page-turner

Absolutely astounding

Thank you to Netgalley, Hachette Audio | Algonquin Books, the author Wendy Chen and narrator Katharine Chin for this stunning ALC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

To be honest, I had difficulty following who was who and how they were all related. I did enjoy this book, though, once I made the connections.

The story is about four generations of Chinese women who passed down not only the same birthmark but also the same "curse" of loving the wrong people throughout their lifetimes.

The idea of "loving the wrong people" resonated with me, and I drew parallels between the family in Wendy Chen's novel and my own. It has always struck me as tragic that all of the women in my mother's side of the family have been divorced at least once. Or, if they stayed with their husbands, they were cheated on.

It has always seemed to me that my family is unlucky when it comes to love, and I know, like Chen knows, that trauma in the shape of major life milestones can shape or warp the ways we love and how we accept love into our lives. There's a grain of truth around the idea that we accept the love we think we deserve. And as people age and have children of their own, they pass down their blueprint on "how to love and be loved" down their family line until it becomes almost genetic, or like a hereditary birthmark, or an ingrained habit.

Chen's novel is wistful because it's all about unrequited love, or love lost, but the silver lining in this novel shines through at the end when Hongxing's mother is dying, and she and her twin sister realize that, though they've loved and lost, that love is never "wrong," because in the process of loving and losing and then settling for less, or sometimes nothing at all, the women in Chen's novel came to raise and love each other, which made those "mistakes" in love worthwhile in the end.

This was a worthwhile read.

[Kristin (Always With a Book) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Hachette Audio for the ALC and Algonquin Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of Their Divine Fires in exchange for my honest review.

This debut was right up my alley – an epic intergenerational family saga that covers four generations of Chinese women across 100 years — and it’s based on the author’s own family’s story – what’s not to love? While bringing attention to the struggles that women faced during throughout China’s history, it also shows the need for stories from our ancestors to be told. ⁣
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This story completely captivated me from the beginning and I found myself drawn into the lives of the women we meet. I found the struggles they went through to be heartbreaking, yet the story has an overall inspiring tone to it.⁣ Not completely familiar with the political history of China, I appreciated how that was woven into the story. We see the family navigate their way through the changes over time for good or bad.

This is the type of book that I love because I become so engrossed in it. I actually wish it was longer because I wanted more…I wanted more with each character and I wanted a bit more of the history, though that’s not to say that I didn’t love it as it was. I definitely recommend picking this one up and for a debut, I’m quite impressed with the depth and beauty of the writing. This is an author I will for sure be keeping an eye out for.
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Audio thoughts: I alternated between the print and audio for this one and appreciated the skilled narration from Katharine Chin, especially when it came to the names and places in China. ⁣


You can see all my reviews at: https://www.alwayswithabook.com/

[Kaylyn Ling · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be on more peoples' shelves. Wendy Chen delivers a personal and poignant generational story cataloguing change in China during the Cultural Revolution. This book is matrilineal: it follows daughters, mothers, and grandmothers across time and place. In this book, there is love and there is loss. The climax of Part One is the burning heart of it all. That literal and figurative fire is passed down in the shape of a thumbprint on one's chest -- in other words, Wendy Chen is an expert at continuity and connectivity in this book, which makes it such a great generational story. It feels like there is a red string of fate, or love, or destiny, that connects the mothers and daughters in this book.

When reading this book, I thought one of the more nuanced themes was that of forgiveness, and of choosing family or political values. To have revolution, one needs to tear down everything that came before. For Communists in China, that sometimes meant abandoning prior promises, alienating one's family, and throwing out relics of history. I felt saddened at the intrafamily "betrayals" that occurred -- but not surprised. I was heartened by the fact that the story kept pushing onwards, past tragedy and past lost battles, to show that life cannot stop. We go on. And our legacy goes on. Maybe not in whole, and maybe some things are lost in time and in translation, but that red string still runs, even decades and continents away from when it was first conceived.

I would recommend. This book is best read with some background understanding, though, of what the Cultural Revolution is. Best enjoyed with at least some familiarity with Chinese culture and history.

[Shakila (BooksandThemes) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to @algonquinbooks and @librofm my early copies!

Rating: ★★★.☆

💭This multigenerational story follows the family and hardships of four generations as well as the Chinese revolution. Broken into four parts we follow each of the women’s experiences over the years. The beginning parts were a bit more interesting than the later parts to me. As we learn more about the characters in middle and towards the end, I began to get a bit confused with who was who and where they fell in the story. It seemed the story lost its momentum. Not to spoil anything, but there was mention of one of the secrets that brought me back to the who of the story and the final parts of the book I loved. It was a beautiful wrap up of the story.

I did enjoy listening about the cultural aspects of the story and the historical pieces mentioned in the story. I thought it was interesting to read about the secrets that were kept between the women and learning how they are revealed throughout the story. I just felt at times there were things missing that could have added more to the story. I did enjoy listening to the audiobook along with reading the ebook.

I would recommend reading this if you enjoy reading about the historical, cultural, and political aspects of stories! Also, this one is inspired by the authors family history!

[amena · Rating 3 out of 5]

honestly this had SO much potential! I love multi-generational stories surrounding women but alas there were so many things that didn't quite hit the nail on the head.

My main issue was the pacing and writing style. We get introduced to the lives of four generations of women whose lives ebb and flow with the series of political and social upheaval in China. That is A LOT to pack in a ~300 page book. To make up for that, there were numerous time gaps, resulting in the loss of substantial character development, including their personalities and relationships with other characters. Anytime things get a little interesting BOOM another time gap and we're basically re-introduced to another set of characters. I was super interested in Hongxing's relationship and life but was disappointed to see her storyline cut short with such a lackluster reunion with her sister :| I feel like her storyline could get its own novel.

As for writing style, there was def a lot more "telling" rather than "showing." A classic debut novel mistake but I'm surprised to see it because the author is an accomplished poet. I also thought the prose was a bit to repetitive and fourmulaic??? I also loved the imagery and symbolism but it could've been integrated better.

[CR · Rating 5 out of 5]

The female members of a family are born with a birthmark. It links them together so that they can never be parted from one another. It is a source of pride to some and shame to others. Through a changing country and political climate, this family carries burdens of the past through generations. Does love always end in sorrow?

This book was so beautiful. I was captivated from the first page. The beautiful writing pulled me in initially, but the story captured me soon after. Experiencing the Chinese Revolution from the perspective of a child and young woman removed from it was so interesting. Experiencing the loss of Yunhong’s innocence to the world was heartbreaking. You could really see how the hurt of mother transferred to daughter throughout the family line. In Yuexin’s treatment of her marriage and how it affected Hongxing and Yonghong. Yonghong’s attitude toward love and how Emily was affected. How a family that was once so close could be irrevocably changed by a decision. This is a book I will be thinking about for a while. I recommend this book to anyone looking to branch out of their usual genres. It is a great book.

[Vicky Again · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished this audiobook over the course of one day and I enjoyed it! It's a nice addition to the multigenerational literary-ish fiction novel landscape. I liked how the stories were presented chronologically -- Chen didn't make the reader fight to piece together the puzzles, but rather told it in an almost oral manner, linearly. I also thought it was wise of Chen to have picked the characters she did -- not every women in the lineage received a defining perspective, but this long family history and all of the characters were well explored throughout the course of the novel.

I'll admit it wasn't a deeply standout novel, but it was still an enjoyable listening experience covering a rich fictional family line and the joys and sorrows throughout the backdrop of a changing world. I'd recommend if you enjoy or are interested in these types of multigenerational, history-rooted, literary-like novels. It's very much what is billed on the tin.

Thanks to Libro.fm for the complimentary copy! I listened on 2-2.2x speed.

Content Warnings: infidelity, death of family, grief

[Nancy Cook Lauer · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5. A moving debut about four generations of Chinese families, informed by the lives of author Wendy Chen's own family, from the Cultural Revolution to Chairman Mao, Communism and the Red Army, all the way to the United States, where red hats proliferate during populist Donald Trump's campaign to take the reins of the United States government. While the book touches on these themes and time periods, it's really about the lives of women, striving to keep their families together during the series of tumultuous eras. The fathers and brothers are buffeted by the times, some gaining small rewards in government positions, while others fighting as revolutionaries. Many are sent to work and die in labor camps, regardless of their positions. The women stay home, denied most opportunities to advance. "The lives of women are calculated, etched in the stars," one mother laments. "As women, we have many lives. Daughter, sister, wife, mother. Few that belong to us." The book is a reminder that despite what's going on at the top, families remain resilient, making do with what they have. A good reminder, but not a groundbreaking book.

[Anya Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so beautifully written, evoking sweeping beautiful landscapes early 20th century China, through modern day in the united states. The characters were so interesting and engrossing, flawed and beautiful, with their own stories and secrets. The book follows generations of women throughout history, both in China and the US, telling the tale of women forced to conform to a life they may not have wanted, or a culture that inhibited them. The struggles and interplay between the characters were so well-crafted, and the story itself was so beautifully done that it was hard to finish it, but I am so happy I was given the opportunity to do so. I remember having learned some about Mao, Chiang Kai-Shek, and some of China's history in school, but this taught me so much more and brought it all to life, making it interesting, engaging, and realistic.

I highly recommend this book, as you will inevitably learn something new, if not about history but about human nature.

This book was provided by Workman Publishing and Hachette Book Group in exchange for an honest review.