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China Duology #2
Flyv, vilde svaner
Win a free print copy of this book!
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25 copies available
U.S. only
Flyv, vilde svaner er den længe ventede efterfølger til Jung Changs internationale bestseller, Vilde svaner, der har solgt millioner af eksemplarer verden over siden udgivelsen i 1991.
Vilde svaner, en bog, der kom til at definere en hel generation, er en episk personlig historie om Jung og om hendes mor og bedstemor – 'tre døtre af Kina'. Den begynder i 1909, da Kina var under den sidste kejser, og tager os gennem Mao Zedongs styre og Kulturrevolutionen, hvor Jungs forældre blev udsat for utrolige prøvelser, og den slutter i 1978, da Mao-æraen officielt var forbi. Jung blev på dette tidspunkt en af de første kinesere, der forlod det kommunistiske Kina for Vesten.
Flyv, vilde svaner bringer historien om Jungs familie – og Kinas – op til nutiden. Bogen er på mange måder Jungs kærlighedsbrev til hendes mor, men den handler også om hendes bedstemor og hendes far, der begge døde tragisk under Kulturrevolutionen. Fortiden er aldrig langt væk i Jungs liv. Den har formet hende, og den har formet det nuværende Kina. Den nye Xi-æra påvirker i høj grad livet for Jung og hendes mor. Gennem deres respektive livsforløb beretter Jung Chang medrivende, dybt bevægende og uforglemmeligt om, hvordan det er at leve i et kommunistisk diktatur og om de trusler, det moderne Kina udgør for den internationale verdensorden.
Vilde svaner, en bog, der kom til at definere en hel generation, er en episk personlig historie om Jung og om hendes mor og bedstemor – 'tre døtre af Kina'. Den begynder i 1909, da Kina var under den sidste kejser, og tager os gennem Mao Zedongs styre og Kulturrevolutionen, hvor Jungs forældre blev udsat for utrolige prøvelser, og den slutter i 1978, da Mao-æraen officielt var forbi. Jung blev på dette tidspunkt en af de første kinesere, der forlod det kommunistiske Kina for Vesten.
Flyv, vilde svaner bringer historien om Jungs familie – og Kinas – op til nutiden. Bogen er på mange måder Jungs kærlighedsbrev til hendes mor, men den handler også om hendes bedstemor og hendes far, der begge døde tragisk under Kulturrevolutionen. Fortiden er aldrig langt væk i Jungs liv. Den har formet hende, og den har formet det nuværende Kina. Den nye Xi-æra påvirker i høj grad livet for Jung og hendes mor. Gennem deres respektive livsforløb beretter Jung Chang medrivende, dybt bevægende og uforglemmeligt om, hvordan det er at leve i et kommunistisk diktatur og om de trusler, det moderne Kina udgør for den internationale verdensorden.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2025
258 people are currently reading
4970 people want to read
About the author
Jung Chang
13 books1,914 followersJung Chang (Chinese: 張戎) is a Chinese-British writer now living in London, best known for her family autobiography Wild Swans, selling over 10 million copies worldwide but banned in the People's Republic of China.
Her 832-page biography of Mao Zedong, Mao: The Unknown Story, written with her husband, the Irish historian Jon Halliday, was published in June 2005.
Her 832-page biography of Mao Zedong, Mao: The Unknown Story, written with her husband, the Irish historian Jon Halliday, was published in June 2005.
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January 1, 2026Wild Swans was amazing! Excited to see where the author goes from there!
September 30, 2025
Fly, Wild Swans is the sequel to Wild Swans, which I loved. Unfortunately, this follow-up didn’t land as strongly for me.
The book backtracks a fair bit, with the opening chapters essentially retelling ground already covered in Wild Swans. For those who read the first book, that feels redundant, and I couldn’t help but think the recap could have been handled with more elegance. Beyond that, the narrative itself lacks the same storytelling power of the original: too many people and places flicker in and out of view without leaving much of an impression, making it difficult to keep track of them. I took off a star for that.
Another section that didn’t work for me was her defense of the Mao biography. I didn’t read that book because Wild Swans alone convinced me that Jung Chang wasn’t writing it to fill a specific gap in research but rather to present a particular skeptical perspective. To me, that’s also why scholars never took the Mao biography seriously — and that’s fine. But Chang is not a trained historian, and it shows here as well. Lines such as: “… during the writing of the biography of Mao, […] I was conscious that I was writing about true evil.” (pp. 241–242) illustrate this tension. That sort of tone works in memoir, but it feels jarring when she’s simultaneously arguing to be treated as a bona fide scholar. Another star off.
Finally, I struggled with her relentlessly glowing, even adoring, descriptions of her mother. Having read Wild Swans, I don’t doubt for a second that her mother was a remarkable, courageous, and loving woman. But every mother-daughter relationship has its shadows — the frictions, the hurts, the disappointments — and it’s in the delicate balance between pain and love that the most powerful autobiographies live. That nuance is absent here, leaving the portrait one-dimensional. And for me, that cost the book another star.
In the end, what made Wild Swans unforgettable was the sheer richness of the story itself — and that just isn’t here.
The book backtracks a fair bit, with the opening chapters essentially retelling ground already covered in Wild Swans. For those who read the first book, that feels redundant, and I couldn’t help but think the recap could have been handled with more elegance. Beyond that, the narrative itself lacks the same storytelling power of the original: too many people and places flicker in and out of view without leaving much of an impression, making it difficult to keep track of them. I took off a star for that.
Another section that didn’t work for me was her defense of the Mao biography. I didn’t read that book because Wild Swans alone convinced me that Jung Chang wasn’t writing it to fill a specific gap in research but rather to present a particular skeptical perspective. To me, that’s also why scholars never took the Mao biography seriously — and that’s fine. But Chang is not a trained historian, and it shows here as well. Lines such as: “… during the writing of the biography of Mao, […] I was conscious that I was writing about true evil.” (pp. 241–242) illustrate this tension. That sort of tone works in memoir, but it feels jarring when she’s simultaneously arguing to be treated as a bona fide scholar. Another star off.
Finally, I struggled with her relentlessly glowing, even adoring, descriptions of her mother. Having read Wild Swans, I don’t doubt for a second that her mother was a remarkable, courageous, and loving woman. But every mother-daughter relationship has its shadows — the frictions, the hurts, the disappointments — and it’s in the delicate balance between pain and love that the most powerful autobiographies live. That nuance is absent here, leaving the portrait one-dimensional. And for me, that cost the book another star.
In the end, what made Wild Swans unforgettable was the sheer richness of the story itself — and that just isn’t here.
November 2, 2025
Superb. Jung Chang shows her incredible talent once again, bringing her, her mother's, and China's story up to date from her earlier work, Wild Swans.
I'd recommend the audiobook.
I'd recommend the audiobook.
June 17, 2025
Devoured in one sitting. Full review to come, but worth the wait. Couldn’t put Fly, Wild Swans down - as good as Wild Swans. Powerful and emotive. A very strong read.
November 10, 2025
Fly, Wild Swans: My Mother, Myself and China is essentially a sequel to Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, covering Jung Chang's life since its publication and how her family has been impacted by political changes in China. I did not find it as raw and visceral as Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, a book that I read and was obsessed with at the age of 16. Nonetheless it has a strong emotional centre, as the subtitle suggests. This is the bond between Jung Chang and her mother, still strong despite the Chinese government not allowing them to meet in person. Jung Chang cannot get a visa and her elderly mother is too frail to leave the hospital. She writes in a moving and vivid manner about this upsetting separation. Her family have remained united and supportive of each other in the face of sustained political pressure.
The book begins by briefly summarising the events of Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, then covers Jung Chang's subsequent life outside China in more detail. I was fascinated to learn about how she came to write her books. On Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China:
Jung Chang initially thought that Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China might be published in China and even secured a publisher, but it was never officially released. Her subsequent books weren't either, although pirated editions have circulated. Apparently the Chinese government have also prevented Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China from being adapted into a TV series or movie, even if filmed outside China. Nonetheless, in the 1990s Jung Chang and her husband were able to research their biography of Mao. During this decade, Chinese and Russian archives were more accessible than before or since. The couple interviewed many people who had been close to Mao and their close relatives:
She expresses disappointment about the reception of her biography of Mao among some Western historians, who apart from anything else did not have access to the sources she did:
I hadn't realised that Xi Jinping is the first of the post-Mao rulers who grew up under Mao as the child of a top Party official, a 'Princeling'. Jung Chang herself technically also counts as a Princeling, as her father was a senior Party official before being persecuted during the Cultural Revolution. She mentions that several people have made this point to her, appealing to a Party loyalty that she lost as a teenager while watching her parents get denounced and tortured. This book is in a sense an appeal for compassion, to allow Jung Chang to visit her sick and elderly mother. Although it is certainly powerful, I doubt that it will move the Chinese government. I found it an involving and thought-provoking read.
The book begins by briefly summarising the events of Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, then covers Jung Chang's subsequent life outside China in more detail. I was fascinated to learn about how she came to write her books. On Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China:
I wrote to my mother every few days, and she supplied more information fulsomely and promptly. She gave me one crucial piece of advice: to keep to personal stories and not attempt to write a history book. She told me that my knowledge of the history of modern China had been heavily influenced by indoctrination, citing as an example one of my questions to her in which I had used the phrase 'the three-year Natural Calamity'. Meaning bad weather, this was the Party's standard euphemism for the Great Famine of 1958-61, in which tens of millions of people died. Although I already had some understanding that the cause of the famine was not bad weather, my understanding was woolly, and I was still using the regime's term out of habit. My mother, who knew more about the truth than I did at the time, was afraid my book might be marred by propaganda. [...]
Later, after I had spent more than a decade researching a biography of Mao, with Jon, and had revised my previous conceptions drastically, for a moment I got into a panic thinking I might have to revise Wild Swans. I reread the book, and was hugely relieved that it was truly a book of personal stories, and comments about the general background were few and far between, none of which needed rewriting - although a few expressions could have been rephrased.
Jung Chang initially thought that Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China might be published in China and even secured a publisher, but it was never officially released. Her subsequent books weren't either, although pirated editions have circulated. Apparently the Chinese government have also prevented Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China from being adapted into a TV series or movie, even if filmed outside China. Nonetheless, in the 1990s Jung Chang and her husband were able to research their biography of Mao. During this decade, Chinese and Russian archives were more accessible than before or since. The couple interviewed many people who had been close to Mao and their close relatives:
I was a little taken aback that Mao's grandson worked as a servant in a hotel and that people were reluctant to do his family favours. It seemed to me that this reflected how the regime really felt about Mao at the time: it was only propping up Mao's godlike status out of political calculation, rather than genuine devotion. It may help to explain why nobody seemed to be making serious efforts to stop me from carrying out my research.
She expresses disappointment about the reception of her biography of Mao among some Western historians, who apart from anything else did not have access to the sources she did:
I felt - and I feel - saddened by the choice of those Westerners to stick with Mao. Because they were supposed to be 'China experts', their standing by Mao has meant that even in the West, Mao has not been put firmly and squarely in the place he belongs: in the company of Hitler and Stalin. As a result, the Chinese regime has had too easy a job dismissing the atrocities documented by us and others, denying Mao's responsibility, and brainwashing China's younger generations who have not lived under Mao and do not know what life was like then. His portrait remains on Tiananmen Gate, its status more secure today than at any time since his death, as its true successor, Chairman Xi Jinping, is engaged in an unprecedented revival of Mao, with whom he identifies.
I hadn't realised that Xi Jinping is the first of the post-Mao rulers who grew up under Mao as the child of a top Party official, a 'Princeling'. Jung Chang herself technically also counts as a Princeling, as her father was a senior Party official before being persecuted during the Cultural Revolution. She mentions that several people have made this point to her, appealing to a Party loyalty that she lost as a teenager while watching her parents get denounced and tortured. This book is in a sense an appeal for compassion, to allow Jung Chang to visit her sick and elderly mother. Although it is certainly powerful, I doubt that it will move the Chinese government. I found it an involving and thought-provoking read.
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November 25, 2025I listened to over half of this and found the narrator’s voice and the tone of the book quite grating. Chang is SO sanctimonious as well, I didn’t want to spend any more time listening to this! Not a bad book per se, I’ve just spent enough time with it to know that it’s now time to move along to something better.
October 3, 2025
I remember buying the original Wild Swans in its first week of publication in the UK back in 1991. I didn’t know anything about it, I just saw it in Books etc and it looked interesting.
I read it in days. I couldn’t put it down. I have read it twice more and count it as my favourite book. I’ve then gone on to read everything else by Jung Chang, who has written some brilliant histories.
Sadly, this is the first time I’ve felt let down by a Jung Chang book. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad book, but it fails to reach the heights of her previous work. There are interesting insights, particularly into the evolution of modern China from the post Mao years until today. But, in contrast to Chang’s other work, it is very easy to put down and hard to pick up again.
The inclusion of familiar stories from Wild Swans suggests that Chang knew that this new work wasn’t compelling enough on its own. But the reminiscences in the first few chapters didn’t work for me, I wondered why we were revisiting so much old ground.
Perhaps the lack of drama in Chang’s later life always meant this book would fail to live up to its predecessors. It’s disappointing nonetheless.
I read it in days. I couldn’t put it down. I have read it twice more and count it as my favourite book. I’ve then gone on to read everything else by Jung Chang, who has written some brilliant histories.
Sadly, this is the first time I’ve felt let down by a Jung Chang book. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad book, but it fails to reach the heights of her previous work. There are interesting insights, particularly into the evolution of modern China from the post Mao years until today. But, in contrast to Chang’s other work, it is very easy to put down and hard to pick up again.
The inclusion of familiar stories from Wild Swans suggests that Chang knew that this new work wasn’t compelling enough on its own. But the reminiscences in the first few chapters didn’t work for me, I wondered why we were revisiting so much old ground.
Perhaps the lack of drama in Chang’s later life always meant this book would fail to live up to its predecessors. It’s disappointing nonetheless.
December 10, 2025
not quite up to the standard of her other books but brings such fascinating insight into her process and what it was like to write her other novels which was rlly interesting for someone like me who grew up reading all of her previous books
November 17, 2025
Brilliant and well written
Another brilliant book by a fearless, perceptive and excellent author. A worthy follow-up to Wild Swans and a must-read for anyone wanting to understand China.
Another brilliant book by a fearless, perceptive and excellent author. A worthy follow-up to Wild Swans and a must-read for anyone wanting to understand China.
November 14, 2025
A disappointment.
I loved the first book and enjoyed its recap at this book’s start. However, it went downhill after that.. Her justification of her book on Mao felt overdone, as did all the logistical details of how the author and her husband visited so many people. So many names, too. I could have done with a who’s who of them all.
Thereafter, each chapter felt like a different episode with little to link them. I wasn’t particularly interested in her information gathering details too, nor all the people she met.
I loved the first book and enjoyed its recap at this book’s start. However, it went downhill after that.. Her justification of her book on Mao felt overdone, as did all the logistical details of how the author and her husband visited so many people. So many names, too. I could have done with a who’s who of them all.
Thereafter, each chapter felt like a different episode with little to link them. I wasn’t particularly interested in her information gathering details too, nor all the people she met.
October 5, 2025
3,5/5
Na Wild Swans sprong dit boek er minder voor mij uit. Duidelijk erop voorzien dat niet iedereen het eerste boek had gelezen, of dat het al lang geleden was, werden er veel gebeurtenissen in herhaald.
Na Wild Swans sprong dit boek er minder voor mij uit. Duidelijk erop voorzien dat niet iedereen het eerste boek had gelezen, of dat het al lang geleden was, werden er veel gebeurtenissen in herhaald.
October 22, 2025
På en og samme tid skræmmende og vigtig læsning.
Det er svært at forstå, at det er muligt at undertrykke og begrænse en hel befolkning på den måde, som det desværre sker og har sket i flere lande...
Vigtigheden i at Vi forstår og værner om vores ret til ytre os, at stemme og læse de bøger vi har lyst til.
At klæde os som individer og tænke selvstændigt.
At rejse og færdes frit.
Forfatteren har betalt den ultimative pris, ved at fortælle os denne beretning og det må forhåbentlig give stof til eftertanke.
Det er svært at forstå, at det er muligt at undertrykke og begrænse en hel befolkning på den måde, som det desværre sker og har sket i flere lande...
Vigtigheden i at Vi forstår og værner om vores ret til ytre os, at stemme og læse de bøger vi har lyst til.
At klæde os som individer og tænke selvstændigt.
At rejse og færdes frit.
Forfatteren har betalt den ultimative pris, ved at fortælle os denne beretning og det må forhåbentlig give stof til eftertanke.
December 25, 2025
the last chapter was definitely the most affecting, an interesting/insightful follow up to wild swans. while i agree the start slightly rehashed some of wild swans, at its core this had a beautiful focus on the mother-daughter relationship
October 14, 2025
Felt that this book gives us a catch up on life since Wild Swans and Jung Chang’s controversial Mao biography while conveying the responses across the world in particular government restrictions in China. Read in one sitting - quite light in contrast to the depth in Wild Swans but interesting in terms of Chang’s experiences.
November 20, 2025
I first read Wild Swans back in 2020 after putting it off for years due to its sheer size. It was no surprise to me that I ended up loving the book and I've been recommending it ever since. When I found out earlier this year that Jung Chang had written a sequel to Wild Swans over thirty years since it was first published, I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy!
Wild Swans chronicled three generations of Jung Chang's family living in China - her grandmother, her mother and herself. With its sequel, Fly, Wild Swans, the book picks up from where Wild Swans ended in 1978 and follows Jung's journey of how she became one of the first people to leave China and move to the West. She describes the change happening in China during this time, how she adapted to Western life and how China reacted to the books that she wrote. The book is also a love letter to her aging mother who she can no longer visit in China as her published work have unfortunately made her a target due to China's new laws.
Fly, Wild Swans was fascinating to read and takes on a different tone vs Wild Swans as it covers a later part of Jung's life. I certainly learned a lot from the book but at times, found it a bit repetitive when referring to content that also featured in Wild Swans - I think I surprised myself by how much I remembered from the first book! I still think it's worth reading, but I recommend reading Wild Swans first if you haven't already.
I was lucky to attend Jung Chang's talk at Wimbledon BookFest last month and meet her afterwards. She's a brilliant storyteller in-person as well as in her writing, and has a great personality which captivated the whole audience in attendance.
Wild Swans chronicled three generations of Jung Chang's family living in China - her grandmother, her mother and herself. With its sequel, Fly, Wild Swans, the book picks up from where Wild Swans ended in 1978 and follows Jung's journey of how she became one of the first people to leave China and move to the West. She describes the change happening in China during this time, how she adapted to Western life and how China reacted to the books that she wrote. The book is also a love letter to her aging mother who she can no longer visit in China as her published work have unfortunately made her a target due to China's new laws.
Fly, Wild Swans was fascinating to read and takes on a different tone vs Wild Swans as it covers a later part of Jung's life. I certainly learned a lot from the book but at times, found it a bit repetitive when referring to content that also featured in Wild Swans - I think I surprised myself by how much I remembered from the first book! I still think it's worth reading, but I recommend reading Wild Swans first if you haven't already.
I was lucky to attend Jung Chang's talk at Wimbledon BookFest last month and meet her afterwards. She's a brilliant storyteller in-person as well as in her writing, and has a great personality which captivated the whole audience in attendance.
November 3, 2025
After loving „Wild Swans“, I had high hopes for „Fly, Wild Swans“, but I have to admit I struggled with this one.
This book was like an arm full of separate small tattoos - random bits and pieces that are all more or less nice and are somehow connected, but don’t tell a cohesive story with a clear thread running through it.
This is not to diminish Chang’s significance as a voice or the importance of her experiences. I admire her courage and the sacrifices she’s made.
But as a reader hoping for another journey as powerful as Wild Swans, I found myself somewhat adrift in this one. It felt fragmented, a collection of moments and memories, a chronicle of how her other books came to be—a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the research process rather than a fully realized story in its own right.
There were some interesting passages for sure, but it was not quite what I was hoping for.
This book was like an arm full of separate small tattoos - random bits and pieces that are all more or less nice and are somehow connected, but don’t tell a cohesive story with a clear thread running through it.
This is not to diminish Chang’s significance as a voice or the importance of her experiences. I admire her courage and the sacrifices she’s made.
But as a reader hoping for another journey as powerful as Wild Swans, I found myself somewhat adrift in this one. It felt fragmented, a collection of moments and memories, a chronicle of how her other books came to be—a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the research process rather than a fully realized story in its own right.
There were some interesting passages for sure, but it was not quite what I was hoping for.
October 30, 2025
Fly Wild Swans by Jung Chang revisits familiar territory — the story of three generations of Chinese women living through a century of upheaval, from imperial decline to Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Drawing partly on the material that made Wild Swans such a phenomenon, Chang threads personal experience through the wider sweep of China’s political and social transformation.
Having read Wild Swans many years ago, I appreciated the opening chapters that retrace that ground, though those who remember Wild Swans well have commented there was too much repetition.
I’m not entirely sure why Antonia Fraser was so blown away by it — it’s solid, certainly, but not revelatory. Still, it’s an interesting companion piece to Wild Swans and a reminder of how extraordinary Chang’s family history really is.
Having read Wild Swans many years ago, I appreciated the opening chapters that retrace that ground, though those who remember Wild Swans well have commented there was too much repetition.
I’m not entirely sure why Antonia Fraser was so blown away by it — it’s solid, certainly, but not revelatory. Still, it’s an interesting companion piece to Wild Swans and a reminder of how extraordinary Chang’s family history really is.
November 1, 2025
This was an audiobook listen.
I was keen to understand the "behind the scenes/making of" and reaction the author got to Wild Swans and the Mao biography and I wasn't disappointed! The stories of her interactions with the secret police were riveting, not to mention the unexpected response in Taiwan. This book won't change your worldview and leave you contemplating your existence the way Wild Swans and the Mao biography did but it is a brilliant update on the author's life post 1990.
One thing that lost a star for me was the how much of this book dwelled on Chairman Mao unnecessarily (in my opinion). As she spent 12 years of her life researching him and that his legacy has prompted China's closing up again since 2018, it's understandably a large part of her life. However, it did feel like some sections of the biography had been copy-pasted to advertise it rather than sticking to a strictly "behind the scenes" look. Having said that, she did provide a thorough defence to the criticism the biography received which was interesting albeit unexpected!
I was keen to understand the "behind the scenes/making of" and reaction the author got to Wild Swans and the Mao biography and I wasn't disappointed! The stories of her interactions with the secret police were riveting, not to mention the unexpected response in Taiwan. This book won't change your worldview and leave you contemplating your existence the way Wild Swans and the Mao biography did but it is a brilliant update on the author's life post 1990.
One thing that lost a star for me was the how much of this book dwelled on Chairman Mao unnecessarily (in my opinion). As she spent 12 years of her life researching him and that his legacy has prompted China's closing up again since 2018, it's understandably a large part of her life. However, it did feel like some sections of the biography had been copy-pasted to advertise it rather than sticking to a strictly "behind the scenes" look. Having said that, she did provide a thorough defence to the criticism the biography received which was interesting albeit unexpected!
Review of advance copy
My main fault with Wild Swans was that it didn't include information about Jung Chang coming to the UK and her impressions of the Western world. This definitely remedied that. It was definitely not as historical as Wild Swans, but more focused on her own experiences. Very interesting and good to learn more about modern China. I did wonder if there was more to her relationship with her mother, as she paints her mother as almost a saint in this book. But since her mum's death was quite recent, I wonder if this is a way of coping.
December 27, 2025
“To my mother, whose deathbed I am unable to visit”
The dedication at the front of this book hits you square in the chest. I cried for these two brave women, Jung Chang and her remarkable mother, to whom she’s clearly devoted, at the end. Their story is at the heart of this book, but I was also fascinated to read how she went about researching all of her history and biography books, which I enjoyed making my way through a few years ago. I therefore was really interested to read what she makes of the regime in China currently and heartbroken by the position it’s left her and her mother in.
The dedication at the front of this book hits you square in the chest. I cried for these two brave women, Jung Chang and her remarkable mother, to whom she’s clearly devoted, at the end. Their story is at the heart of this book, but I was also fascinated to read how she went about researching all of her history and biography books, which I enjoyed making my way through a few years ago. I therefore was really interested to read what she makes of the regime in China currently and heartbroken by the position it’s left her and her mother in.
November 13, 2025
Wild Swans fascinated me as a teen and Fly, Wild Swans continues the trend. There is a bit of repetition of Wild Swans at the start, but necessary for the context of the book. Jung Changs love for her mother is beautiful to read. A window into China over the last 50 years, with a concerning end.
October 6, 2025
An interesting but slightly uneven book, dragging in the middle. It's no Wild Swans, but it catches us up to the present day so it's of interest to people who liked the original.
October 30, 2025
Must re read Wild Swans. An interesting read as a follow up to where China has got to now. Sad that she cannot visit China safely anymore so can only communicate online with her Mother. Interesting insight into Mao who she and her husband spent 10 years researching and writing about.
November 2, 2025
*I read an advance copy and was not compensated.
November 30, 2025
Having finished Wild Swans and moved straight onto this book, I did feel there was a lot of repetition, though of course this is for readers who endured the sizeable gap between the two books I’m sure. It’s certainly interesting to learn about the writing of Wild Swans and its reception, particularly in China, and the author’s relationships and how the book changes them.
Review of advance copy
loved wild swans, but this was a bit boring, unnecessary and pretentious
December 21, 2025
Not a patch on Wild Swans for me, unfortunately. This took me a long time to get through and I felt it lacked the elegant storytelling of Wild Swans.
October 4, 2025
Wild Swans is a powerful book so I was keen to read this follow up. The first quarter or so recaps some of Wild Swans, and the rest feels disjointed and repetitive. It’s a shame because the author is a strong, resourceful woman with much to say. The 2 sections of photos were welcome, and her love for her family and concern for her country are the main themes. So, a little disappointing, though I have much respect for Jung Chang.
September 29, 2025
Jung Chang, the woman that you are ❤️
October 31, 2025
The author updates us on her life after she left China and came to study in England. Very insightful but very measured which is remarkable considering the suffering her family endured during the reign of Mao.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews