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Passing Under Heaven
In the last years of the Tang Dynasty, a beautiful girl is born in a fort along the Great Wall of China, and is set to become the most famous and celebrated courtesan of her age. Set in the 9th century, Passing Under Heaven tells the tragic love story of Lily, and documents a time when Chinese women enjoyed a window of unprecedented personal freedom—including the freedom to fall in love. But when Lily pushes that freedom to its limits, disaster ensues, leaving her child and husband to forever mourn her loss. Based on historical fact, Passing Under Heaven is more than the story of the end of a love affair, but also a chronicle of the passing of the Chinese golden age into civil war and ruin.
440 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
About the author
Justin Hill
10 books112 followers Justin is an English novelist whose work has twice been nominated for the Man Booker Prize. He was born in Freeport, Grand Bahama Island in 1971 and was brought up in York. He was educated at St Peter's School, York, and was a member of St Cuthbert's Society, Durham University.
He worked for seven years as a volunteer with VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) in rural China and Africa, before returning home to Yorkshire in 1999. His internationally acclaimed first novel, The Drink and Dream Teahouse, won the 2003 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and a 2002 Betty Trask Award, and banned by the government in China. It was also picked by the Washington Post as one of the Top Novels of 2001.
His second novel, Passing Under Heaven, won the 2005 Somerset Maugham Award and was shortlisted for the Encore Award. The Independent on Sunday and Sunday Telegraph both picked it for their Christmas Recommended Reads in 2005.
Ciao Asmara, a factual account of his time in Eritrea, was shortlisted for the 2003 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award.
In December 2009, he signed a two-book deal with Little, Brown, to publish his Conquest Series.
His work has been translated into fifteen languages.
He worked for seven years as a volunteer with VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) in rural China and Africa, before returning home to Yorkshire in 1999. His internationally acclaimed first novel, The Drink and Dream Teahouse, won the 2003 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and a 2002 Betty Trask Award, and banned by the government in China. It was also picked by the Washington Post as one of the Top Novels of 2001.
His second novel, Passing Under Heaven, won the 2005 Somerset Maugham Award and was shortlisted for the Encore Award. The Independent on Sunday and Sunday Telegraph both picked it for their Christmas Recommended Reads in 2005.
Ciao Asmara, a factual account of his time in Eritrea, was shortlisted for the 2003 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award.
In December 2009, he signed a two-book deal with Little, Brown, to publish his Conquest Series.
His work has been translated into fifteen languages.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 19, 2016
4.5 stars
This novel is so completely different from Shieldwall which I recently read and was very impressed by. I am always impressed by a creative person who doesn't stick in a groove but it does render it impossible, at most points, to make any real comparison. I will say I found this story perhaps less coherent (that is, it didn't hang together as well) and I couldn't much like Lily . In the end, neither of those issues mattered.
I am impressed with the depth of the author's knowledge and he mentions he was translating her poetry? Man! The voice of the novel is pitched just right; the cadence of the words fits the story, the place - the language often takes off and becomes poetic and evocative.
It is always a bit of a trick for an author to speak through a main character of the opposite sex to their own. I was very impressed with the detail of life experience of a woman shown in the narrative. Clearly the author has either great empathy or has bothered to check small and often intimate detail with female friends etc - both, I suspect. Attention to such small detail is one of the hallmarks of an authentic voice and a person dedicated to developing the craft of writing. I don't find this so often, making it entirely worthy of comment.
I have it from the author himself that reading this is a warm up for the 'real thing' (Viking Fire, recently published and eagerly awaited by me)! It's a very good warm up, though - and it is very much it's own self. I am overall much impressed by this author and will be following anything he writes with anticipation. I remain very annoyed by another author's comment that Shieldwall is a 'man's book' - that's a very stereotyped comment that says a lot about the female author (of 'women's' books? You could say so.....). Perhaps if she had read this novel she might not have been so quick to make assumptions? JH is the far superior writer, anyway! :)
This novel is so completely different from Shieldwall which I recently read and was very impressed by. I am always impressed by a creative person who doesn't stick in a groove but it does render it impossible, at most points, to make any real comparison. I will say I found this story perhaps less coherent (that is, it didn't hang together as well) and I couldn't much like Lily . In the end, neither of those issues mattered.
I am impressed with the depth of the author's knowledge and he mentions he was translating her poetry? Man! The voice of the novel is pitched just right; the cadence of the words fits the story, the place - the language often takes off and becomes poetic and evocative.
It is always a bit of a trick for an author to speak through a main character of the opposite sex to their own. I was very impressed with the detail of life experience of a woman shown in the narrative. Clearly the author has either great empathy or has bothered to check small and often intimate detail with female friends etc - both, I suspect. Attention to such small detail is one of the hallmarks of an authentic voice and a person dedicated to developing the craft of writing. I don't find this so often, making it entirely worthy of comment.
I have it from the author himself that reading this is a warm up for the 'real thing' (Viking Fire, recently published and eagerly awaited by me)! It's a very good warm up, though - and it is very much it's own self. I am overall much impressed by this author and will be following anything he writes with anticipation. I remain very annoyed by another author's comment that Shieldwall is a 'man's book' - that's a very stereotyped comment that says a lot about the female author (of 'women's' books? You could say so.....). Perhaps if she had read this novel she might not have been so quick to make assumptions? JH is the far superior writer, anyway! :)
February 1, 2020
Fabulous read - could not put it down. Based on the real life poetess Yu Xuanji of whom very little is known. Justin hill has done an amazing job imagining what could have happened - from her early adoption to being sold as a concubine to being sent to a monastery and finally as a courtesan. While her life has been anything but easy and love only caused her more pain than joy, (the horrors of being a woman in those days!) the story is gripping and beautifully told. Only thing is I felt the interweaving of her diary journals and poetry became a bit tedious and distracted from the narrative but then I do think that translations of Chinese poetry never seem to work - pretty but insubstantial. Too much nuance is lost.
September 21, 2013
An unusual , and rather quirky read. The Tang Dynasty is so unlike anything I have read before , the relationship between husband wife and concubines is so different from western culture.
A good read!
A good read!
March 28, 2022
A gorgeously written book!
Justin Hill paints the life of society and the poet Yu Xuanji at AD 800 - 900 in a beautifully vivid way. As not much is known about YX, JH has imagined her life splendidly!
For me this was a really cosy slow read and the book was easy to pick up again when reading time struck.
If you happen about this book, and you like poetry, beautiful descriptions or is just curious what the life of a female poet might have looked like at the 800, or how society in China might have lived at AD 800, then don't hesitate to pick this book up, this is the read for you!
Justin Hill paints the life of society and the poet Yu Xuanji at AD 800 - 900 in a beautifully vivid way. As not much is known about YX, JH has imagined her life splendidly!
For me this was a really cosy slow read and the book was easy to pick up again when reading time struck.
If you happen about this book, and you like poetry, beautiful descriptions or is just curious what the life of a female poet might have looked like at the 800, or how society in China might have lived at AD 800, then don't hesitate to pick this book up, this is the read for you!
Read
May 12, 2017Beautifully written, very interesting as it was based on a true story, it was an incite into life during the Tang Dynasty. The tradegy of how life is influenced through circumstance and expectations of the era, reminded me vaguely of Tess of the D'Ubervilles.
February 12, 2025
A moving story about the dynamics of power and gender.
October 7, 2025
One of my favourite books to read. A lovely taste of different ways of life.
November 19, 2011
As a Tang Dynasty buff, I found this to be an absorbing read. On one part for the span of historical detail and peek into the life of women inside and outside the home, and in large part of the restless energy of the protagonist, Lily or Yu Xuanji. It's another poignantly tragic tale about a Chinese maiden who has the misfortune of both falling in love and yearning to have her own way. The difference being that this was more than a woman trapped in the oppressiveness of her time. Lily fights against the boundaries of her society, struggles for happiness and to have her talent recognized, and descends into despair when there ultimately is no place for her--much as detailed in Woolf's "Room of One's Own". I also felt echoes of Flaubert's Madame Bovary as Lily helplessly grasps at some indefineable place for herself that does not exist. Translations of Yu Xuanji's actual poetry anchor her story and provide an extra touch of authenticity to the character's voice.
October 12, 2011
Beautifully written and imagined. Poetic and tragic. Historical fiction at it's best framed by fragments of the Poetess' actual writings. Chinese culture depicted truly. A wonderful, lyrical, literate stunner!
April 2, 2013
I read about 200 pages before I gave up. I heard the part when Lily was a child was slow but even when I got past that, it was still slow. And depressing. I wasn't enjoying it so I decided to stop reading it.
April 3, 2024
This book gave me new insights into the non-traditional roles that women could fulfill in old China as concubines, Buddhist nuns, or as poets. It was a good read, the ending was very sad though. It had a non-traditional, and not a fairytale happily-ever-after ending.
April 13, 2018
This is an interesting book exploring the life of Lily, a young woman in the time of the Chinese Tang Dynasty. Adopted after her concubine mother has to give her up, Lily is passed from a poor peasant family to the family of Scholar Yu.
She becomes a concubine herself and the novel explores the life she has with Minister Li. She finds it difficult to accept her place in society and rebels against the expectations of how she should behave. Throughout her life Lily writes poetry and becomes famous for the quality of her verse. She leaves the Minister and tries to lead an independent life as a courtesan. Her position as a poet allows her access to a wide section of society and she achieves a level of freedom we might think unusual for the time for a woman.
Her link to a convicted traitor means she is imprisoned in a local monastery and separated from her young child. In a rage she kills a novice nun and so is put to death.
While the novel is interesting in its exploration of Lily's life and in its picture of China in the late 800's, I found the narrative slow and lacking in drama.
She becomes a concubine herself and the novel explores the life she has with Minister Li. She finds it difficult to accept her place in society and rebels against the expectations of how she should behave. Throughout her life Lily writes poetry and becomes famous for the quality of her verse. She leaves the Minister and tries to lead an independent life as a courtesan. Her position as a poet allows her access to a wide section of society and she achieves a level of freedom we might think unusual for the time for a woman.
Her link to a convicted traitor means she is imprisoned in a local monastery and separated from her young child. In a rage she kills a novice nun and so is put to death.
While the novel is interesting in its exploration of Lily's life and in its picture of China in the late 800's, I found the narrative slow and lacking in drama.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 14, 2021
There were elements here, I guess, but not enough. I liked the unusual subject and there were some details of life during this time. But I liked the main character less and less, and her choices were awful. Given that her "husband" was a piece of work, she still made her own life worse. Also trigger warning for animal cruelty! I was so done with her after that.
May 20, 2012
This book is sometimes categorized as 'historical fiction', but that's still not quite accurate. The book is a fictional account of a historical Tang Dynasty (618-906 CE) poetess (Yu Xuanji) whom we know only vaguely through a handful of poems, a reference to a book of her works and diaries (now lost), and a historical reference to her death 12 years after she was executed. It is, however, a beautifully written story woven around the main themes of her poetry--the betrayals of life, love, beauty, families, society. In this respect, it does crystallize some of the most important aspects of the period--the dynasty's obsession with romanticism and refinement, village life, city life, peasant lives, aristocratic careers and interests, the roles and duties of wives and concubines. The book includes several of the poetess' actual poetry as translated by the author, who was inspired to write this novel while translating her poems.
Perhaps the best category to capture its genre is fiction 'inspired by history'. As the author notes, "this novel started as a collection of translations of Yu Xuanji's poems, which formed the skeleton on which the rest of the book has grown" (p. 438).
It's a light read, a book I would categorize as "summer reading". Read it for entertainment for it is entertaining, but if you're looking for insights into Tang Chinese history or society, your time is better spent elsewhere.
If however, you're looking for a story about betrayals, this book will not disappoint.
Perhaps the best category to capture its genre is fiction 'inspired by history'. As the author notes, "this novel started as a collection of translations of Yu Xuanji's poems, which formed the skeleton on which the rest of the book has grown" (p. 438).
It's a light read, a book I would categorize as "summer reading". Read it for entertainment for it is entertaining, but if you're looking for insights into Tang Chinese history or society, your time is better spent elsewhere.
If however, you're looking for a story about betrayals, this book will not disappoint.
March 2, 2013
Reasonably interesting fiction but as a novel seeking to fill in the considerable blank that is the life of the Tang dynasty poetess - Yu Xuanji - there was very little about her creative process. One minute she was a little girl, the next minute she was a concubine and was writing poems. The poems are inserted in the text but it took me a while to realise that they were actually HER surviving poems, because the novel did not examine or seek to illustrate the development of her creativity and skills, just her emotional and physical situations.
Yu Xuanji on Wikipedia
Yu Xuanji on Wikipedia
June 23, 2011
This historical fiction depicts the life of a beautiful young Chinese girl living at the end of the Tang Dynasty who grows up to become a celebrated poet and renown courtesan. The story is fiction, but based on historical facts.
The story skips around in time a little bit and while normally I don't mind that, it didn't seem to add anything to the story, even detracting from it from time to time. The poetry in the book is lovely, but also interrupted the flow of the plot.
The story skips around in time a little bit and while normally I don't mind that, it didn't seem to add anything to the story, even detracting from it from time to time. The poetry in the book is lovely, but also interrupted the flow of the plot.
September 12, 2009
Interesting times, 850 A.D. and 900 A.D. in China. A concubine and, more rare, a female poet. actually published. Fictionalized version of her life. The system of "justice" particularly brutal. Clothes, food, gardens, homes, resting in monasteries, all very interesting. Poetry was the entertainment of the time.
March 11, 2017
Fictional yet insightful. Heartbreaking story about one of my favorite poets of China. This book tears you apart with the suffering and injustices women in the past have been through. The story really encapsulates the sorrowful fatalism in daoism. moving and tragic
July 19, 2012
Beautifully written story with colourful characters. I definitely enjoyed the book but thought her childhood dragged a bit in a book. I felt it was more like a summer read than historical fiction.
May 28, 2013
"Do not be afraid of a long path, rather fear short ambition"
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews