{"title":"Dorothy Tse","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDorothy Tse\u003c\/strong\u003e crafts tales that blur the boundaries between reality and imagination, inviting readers into surreal urban landscapes and dreamlike narratives. Her work explores the complexities of human experience through richly textured prose and an inventive use of language.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFans of contemporary \u003cem\u003egeneral fiction\u003c\/em\u003e will appreciate Tse's unique blend of magical realism and subtle social commentary, where each story offers a fresh perspective on modern life and memory. Her novels evoke a sense of wonder while probing deeper emotional truths.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"owlish-by-dorothy-tse-9781922585738","title":"Owlish","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA professor falls in love with a mechanical ballerina in a mordant and uncanny fable of contemporary Hong Kong.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the mountainous city of Nevers, there lives a professor of literature called Q. He has a dull marriage and a lacklustre career, but also a scrumptious collection of antique dolls locked away in his cupboard. And soon, Q lands his crowning acquisition—a music box ballerina named Aliss who tantalisingly springs to life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGuided by his mysterious friend Owlish and inspired by an inexplicably familiar painting, Q embarks on an all-consuming love affair with Aliss, oblivious to the sinister forces encroaching on his city and the protests spreading across the university that have left his classrooms all but empty. Thrumming with secrets and shape-shifting geographies, Dorothy Tse's extraordinary debut novel is a boldly inventive exploration of life under repressive conditions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eOwlish\u003c\/em\u003e is the literary equivalent of a house of mirrors, refracting and distorting shards of Hong Kong's recent past ... A wildly inventive read. - Louisa Lim, The New York Times Book Review\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eOwlish\u003c\/em\u003e ... has been translated into a playful and sinuous English by Natascha Bruce ... the book, with its ellipses and obstructed messages, were depicting the reality-warping effects of an uncanny, constraining force—a force like state censorship. - Katy Waldman, New Yorker\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThough Ms Tse alludes to a number of artistic influences ... her writing most resembles that of Kazuo Ishiguro in its ability to render a strange allegorical fantasia in precise, formal prose. (The excellent translation from the Chinese is by Natascha Bruce.) But \u003cem\u003eOwlish\u003c\/em\u003e is sexier than Mr Ishiguro's books, in rich and discomfiting ways—a \"folk tale\", as Q imagines his reckless romance, \"full of lust and passion\". - Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46550372385004,"sku":"9781922585738","price":32.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/14268503482872.jpg?v=1749978400"},{"product_id":"city-like-water-by-dorothy-tse-9781804272282","title":"City Like Water","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe city you grew up in is gone, as if sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Though so much has vanished with it - classmates, teachers, counterfeit watches, the erotic toe cleavage that used to lead the way down secret passages - you still catch snatches of conversation lingering in the air and glimpse sun-dazzled residents retreating into dark crevices.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut then the disappearances come closer to home. Your mother joins in a housewives' protest over fake lotus roots only to be turned into a glittering bronze statue by the police. Then it's just you and your father at home, until he is quietly absorbed into the enormous new TV gifted by the government, and you spot him picking through leftovers in the background of soap operas. And didn't you once have a little sister, before she flew away in her school uniform?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs the police go undercover and transform your neighbourhood into a violent labyrinth you can no longer navigate, where does this leave you?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLucid, nightmarish and indelible, \u003cem\u003eCity Like Water\u003c\/em\u003e is a wondrous and pointed message in a bottle from a city not so different from your own.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47495373455596,"sku":"9781804272282","price":32.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781804272282-city-like-water.jpg?v=1775794347"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.pro\/collections\/dorothy-tse.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}