Songs of the underclasses

Parallel lives in translation

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  • Published 20250204
  • ISBN: 978-1-923213-04-3
  • Extent: 196 pp
  • Paperback, ebook. PDF

ON THE DAYS I rose before Mā did, each footstep on the stair popped the silence like a knuckle cracking. The dusky dining table looked exactly the way it did in my dreams. If I opened the window, I was sure I’d smell an ocean, and if I went outside, I would find streets that changed each time I entered them. But I just sat at the cold table, with its archaeology of receipts flattened under the glass tabletop, and waited for Windows Vista to boot up. I was writing my first novel and I was determined to get it published before I turned sixteen.

The night was just starting to tinge blue when I heard the stairs groan with new weight. It was Diē. We spoke in Mandarin. This was the natural order: Chinese in the family, English for the world outside.

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About the author

Cherry Zheng

Cherry Zheng is a writer and dancer of Cantonese heritage. Her work has appeared in Overland, Aniko Press, The Suburban Review and the British Science-Fiction...

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