Australian readers are hungry for Chinese historical fiction. Wild Swans, Mao’s Last Dancer, Falling Leaves, Life and Death in Shanghai… it’s clear that there’s something about the Chinese cultural landscape that captures our collective imagination.
It’s therefore not surprising that while in the early stages of researching her latest novel, Dreaming of Zhou Gong, Traci Harding became fascinated with ancient China – a period she soon realised was “far more rich with invention, culture and tradition than I could possibly have imagined”.
Harding is renowned both within Australia and internationally for her own unique brand of fantasy that combines elements of historical fact, time travel and quantum physics – a formula that has translated to book sales of nearly 350,000 copies locally. While Zhou Gong is a new direction for her, it’s one that she believes both old and new readers alike will enjoy.
“In all of my travels through time, space and history, I have never been so enchanted, fascinated and immersed in any culture, as I was with ancient China,” says Hawkesbury, NSW-based Harding.
“My readers have always been happy to follow my characters wherever their journey led, much as I do, and considering the amount of enjoyment I derived from writing the story of Zhou Gong, I do believe my readers are in for an unparalleled adventure!”
Dreaming of Zhou Gong is a beautiful story of Hudan, one of the mysterious Wu who lives on the sacred mountain of Li Shan. The Wu have been living in isolation for decades while the Shang Emperor and his enchantress have ruled the land. It has been a terrible time for the common people and the noble Ji brothers are keen to bring the emperor’s arrogant bloodthirsty reign to an end. They believe an ancient prophecy has predicted the fall of the Shang emperor and they are keen to enact it, but first they must journey to the mountain and seek out the Wu.
When the Ji brothers join forces with the beautiful, enigmatic Hudan and her equally mysterious tiger sister, they begin a powerful journey of love and adventure.
But the Shang emperor is not their greatest threat. There is a dark curse that has plagued the rulers of the land for generations. And the mysterious Sons of the Sky who visit Hudan in her dreams have a plan to destroy it. Can Hudan trust them?
About the author
Since the 1996 bestseller, THE ANCIENT FUTURE, Traci Harding has published seventeen books with HarperVoyager. These are available in print and e-books; she has also been translated into several different languages. Go to traciharding.com and find out all there is to know about Traci and her books.