THREE SOULS


An absorbing novel of romance and revolution, loyalty and family, sacrifice and undying love

We have three souls, or so I'd been told. But only in death could I confirm this….

So begins the haunting and captivating tale, set in 1935 China, of the ghost of a young woman named Leiyin, who watches her own funeral from above and wonders why she is being denied entry to the afterlife. Beside her are three souls—stern and scholarly yang; impulsive, romantic yin; and wise, shining hun—who will guide her toward understanding. She must, they tell her, make amends.

more …

An absorbing novel of romance and revolution, loyalty and family, sacrifice and undying love

We have three souls, or so I'd been told. But only in death could I confirm this….

So begins the haunting and captivating tale, set in 1935 China, of the ghost of a young woman named Leiyin, who watches her own funeral from above and wonders why she is being denied entry to the afterlife. Beside her are three souls—stern and scholarly yang; impulsive, romantic yin; and wise, shining hun—who will guide her toward understanding. She must, they tell her, make amends.

As Leiyin delves back in time with the three souls to review her life, she sees the spoiled and privileged teenager she once was, a girl who is concerned with her own desires while China is fractured by civil war and social upheaval. At a party, she meets Hanchin, a captivating left-wing poet and translator, and instantly falls in love with him.

When Leiyin defies her father to pursue Hanchin, she learns the harsh truth—that she is powerless over her fate. Her punishment for disobedience leads to exile, an unwanted marriage, a pregnancy, and, ultimately, her death. And when she discovers what she must do to be released from limbo into the afterlife, Leiyin realizes that the time for making amends is shorter than she thought.

Suffused with history and literature, Three Souls is an epic tale of revenge and betrayal, forbidden love, and the price we are willing to pay for freedom.

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  • William Morrow
  • Paperback
  • February 2014
  • 496 Pages
  • 9780062293190

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About Janie Chang

Born in Taiwan, Janie Chang spent part of her childhood in the Philippines, Iran, and Thailand. She holds a degree in computer science and is a graduate of the Writer’s Studio Program at Simon Fraser University. Three Souls is her first novel.

Praise

“Compelling and utterly original. Janie Chang’s riveting debut gives us so much: a complex heroine, a window into the vanished world of pre-Communist China, a fascinating plot and language that sings. An intoxicating story of family, ambition and the risks we take for love.”NYT Bestselling Author Tara Conklin, author of The House Girls

“A triumph. There is so much magic here, such generous imagining. The prose sings while the story is told in surging crescendo that makes us race to know what happens.”Beverly Swerling, author of City of Dreams and Bristol House

“A tour de force. Evocative of Lisa See at her best, Three Souls vividly conjures life in pre-Mao China, and runs the emotional gamut from playful to haunting. This original story and its sympathetic heroine will stay with you long after the final pages.”Daniel Kalla, author of The Far Side of the Sky and Rising Sun, Falling Shadow

“A glorious, deeply readable novel-the kind you pick up and read voraciously, every chance you get. The kind you get lost in.”Shaena Lambert, author of Radiance and Oh, My Darling

Discussion Questions

Leiyin’s three souls manifest

three very distinct and different

personalities. What do you think

the souls represent, individually

and collectively? What do you

think their role is in the story?

Pre–World War II China was

a time of great turmoil. What

details and descriptions of

ordinary life does the author use

to evoke the social and political

transitions taking place?

Think about the conflicts that

women of Leiyin’s generation

experienced during this time of

transition. How are they similar

to the experiences of immigrant

women today? How are they

different?

Three Souls makes a strong

statement about how women

were treated in Chinese society.

Of all the examples showing how

women were oppressed, which

affected you the most, and why?

What new information did you

learn about Chinese history,

society, or family dynamics? Were

there any passages or scenes in the

novel that you felt gave you fresh

insights into that time and place?

In Leiyin’s memories of her times

with Hanchin, what tips us off

that he is just toying with her?

Discuss what Leiyin doesn’t see or

won’t acknowledge that she sees.

Throughout Part One, Leiyin is

warned repeatedly to obey her

father. What do we know about

her father that might cause her to

believe he will eventually give in

to her or at least forgive her?

Many readers consider

Stepmother the most interesting

secondary character of the novel.

Do you agree? What makes her

so memorable and admirable—

especially given the constraints

of the era and her status in the

family?

The female characters are not

the only ones whose lives are

constrained. Discuss how some

of the male characters are also

trapped by tradition.

In many ways this is a coming-of-

age story—in which the final

coming of age happens after the

protagonist dies. In each of the

three parts of the novel, how does

Leiyin grow and mature? What

does she learn about herself or

the way the world works?

At the end of the novel, do you

think Leiyin will succeed in

ascending to the afterlife? Why

or why not? Do you find the

Consider the structure of the

novel. The author changes

between past tense and present

tense. Do you feel this is

confusing or effective?