The Wild Years: Secret Stories of Rural Women

Traditional era fiction, not a wish-fulfillment story + Realistic subject matter + Changing times + Ensemble cast

Li Guixiang, a rural woman whose husband worked away from home, gave birth to three girls, completing the Zhang family's trio of sisters.

But in the early 1990s, when family planning was at its strictest, life was bound to be hard for Guixiang and her three children.

They faced enormous fines for having more children, while her extremely son-preferring mother-in-law only made things worse. Her husband Tiezhu, an honest man typical of that era, stayed silent.

In such circumstances, how could Guixiang escape her predicament? What kind of lives would the three sisters each lead?

That absurd era was a nightmare for nearly every woman of childbearing age.

They married into all kinds of families, but they all shared the same duty: to carry on the family line.

How did women live their own lives in that absurd era?

A novel portraying the most authentic struggles of rural women in the 1990s.

A story of rural women's growth, a realistic work spanning changing times.

The eldest, Zhang Juan, was gentle yet stubborn. She watched her mother suffer, but was also tormented by that suffering herself.

The second sister, Zhang Min, was more like a boy, so she took on the duty of protecting her sisters. She was also the only one of the Zhang children who ultimately stayed by her parents' side.

The youngest, Zhang Jianguo, was the most insecure of the three. She was self-conscious about her name, but had the best grades. She was also the one most torn up inside.

What kind of lives would they ultimately lead? What sort of partners would they find?

What would become of Guixiang and her daughters in the end?