Ferry Under the Birch Trees

This is a long epic spanning sixty-four years and describing the fate of nine people. It started on a snowy night in the forest area of ​​northern Xinjiang in 1976 and ended at the ferry on the bank of the Shen River in 2040. Qiao Yu, Lu Xingci, Zhou Chengjun, Lin Yuan... Nine children who were born in the forest area went their separate ways in the tide of the times: some walked into the office building, some were trapped on the construction site, and some disappeared into the distant mountains. No one is a hero, and no one is a loser - they are just people who live seriously. The most moving power of the novel comes from those "unspoken" moments: the hand that fell on the grandfather's face before he died, the back of his mother saying goodbye on the platform, Zhou Chengjun squatting on the threshold and saying "I can't bear to leave even after I have a name", and the two words on Yin Wei's note before she left - "Wait for me". Twenty-four years later, she returned, but only in passing. This is not a story that celebrates success, but an understanding of the ordinary. The author uses precise details, restrained brushwork, and quiet affection to give each character his own body temperature. When Qiao Yu finally stood at the calligraphy exhibition and looked at the four words "Here is peace of mind" written by his wife, he suddenly understood: The so-called struggle is never about how far a person goes, but about one generation bringing another generation to the other side of the river. "The Ferry Under the Birch Tree" - written for everyone who has lived seriously in the era.