The Northern Tomb

by Isabelle Li

The Northern Tomb tells the story of Mr Zhao, an elderly widower, and Sister Fu, his middle-aged carer, being in isolation together in Shenyang, a capital city in Northeast China, during the Covid pandemic. Weighed down by loss and private sorrow, the unlikely housemates protect and care for each other in ingenious ways as they come to terms with their own painful pasts. Structured as a quartet, narrated in multiple voices with different perspectives, this novel explores the depth of grief, the possibility of redemption, while testifying to the transformative power of friendship during difficult times. It also contemplates aging, illness, and the meaning of caring for the body. With a small cast of characters the novel provides an intimate portrayal of parental love and sibling dynamics, and reveals family legends and myths as inheritance, patterns of fate running through generations, and individual’s struggles amid the tidal waves of history.

210 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2026

About the author

Isabelle Li’s work has appeared in Southerly, Sleepers Almanac, UTS Writers’ Anthology, New Australian Stories, The Trouble with Flying and Cha. Her script ‘Mooncake and Crab’ was made into a short film, which premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival. Isabelle has translated a collection of poems, Almost Everything I Know, into Chinese. She is completing a Doctor of Creative Arts at the University of Western Sydney.

Reviews

[Tom Flood · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable and skilful work. I was fortunate to read an early draft. The balance of historical info with contemporary exactness, the detailed evocation of these Chinese lives, the marvellous characterisation and the deft handling of their progression all had me increasingly impressed as I progressed. Funny, touching, and revealing, the story certainly leaves a lot open for discussion on various levels, and that can only be good. Isabelle Li is certainly an author to return to and far more than simply a chronicler of the human condition.