Mother River

By: Can Xue, Chen Zeping - translator, Karen Gernant - translator

Narrated by: Tim Lounibos, Rachel Yong

Winner of the 2015 Best Translated Book Award

In Mother River, Can Xue, one of China's most daring and visionary writers, invites us into a surreal landscape where reality is as fluid as a river itself. This collection of thirteen stories weaves together vivid, dreamlike narratives that challenge our perceptions of time, identity, and existence.

Through her signature blend of the absurd and the profound, Can Xue explores the fragile boundaries between the known and unknown, between humanity and nature. In these tales, a man tries to chase down an elusive golden peacock, a woman communicates with mysterious, shifting forms of light, and the river that runs through a small village seems to pulse with memories of its own.

Surreal, provocative, and unique, Mother River reinforces Can Xue's status as one of the most rewarding and complex writers working today—and a perennial favorite to win the Nobel Prize.

©2022 Can Xue; Translation 2025 by Karen Gernant and Chen Zeping (P)2025 Tantor Media

Can Xue does it again!

Classic Can Xue short stories, excellently narrated. Like a more emotionally well adjusted Kafka.