Do Not Say We Have Nothing
By Madeleine Thien
W. W. Norton & Company
If I have any literary regrets this year, it’s that I had the opportunity to see the author speak at the St. Albert (Alberta) Library’s book festival and didn’t act quickly enough to get tickets. Because this sprawling, fascinating story centers around a “Book of Names” that has been kept and added to by a single family for generations. Even as the original author’s descendants are displaced, imprisoned, separated, murdered, and eventually reunited, someone in the family knows where this book is and how to rescue it. Set in various cities in China through the Maoist revolution through Tianenman Square up to current times, we become spectators to the horrors and occasional moments of joy (such as a contraband jazz record). Brilliant book, goes on my top 5.