THREE SOULS
An absorbing novel of romance and revolution, loyalty and family, sacrifice and undying love
We have three souls, or so I'd been told. But only in death could I confirm this….
So begins the haunting and captivating tale, set in 1935 China, of the ghost of a young woman named Leiyin, who watches her own funeral from above and wonders why she is being denied entry to the afterlife. Beside her are three souls—stern and scholarly yang; impulsive, romantic yin; and wise, shining hun—who will guide her toward understanding. She must, they tell her, make amends.
An absorbing novel of romance and revolution, loyalty and family, sacrifice and undying love
We have three souls, or so I'd been told. But only in death could I confirm this….
So begins the haunting and captivating tale, set in 1935 China, of the ghost of a young woman named Leiyin, who watches her own funeral from above and wonders why she is being denied entry to the afterlife. Beside her are three souls—stern and scholarly yang; impulsive, romantic yin; and wise, shining hun—who will guide her toward understanding. She must, they tell her, make amends.
As Leiyin delves back in time with the three souls to review her life, she sees the spoiled and privileged teenager she once was, a girl who is concerned with her own desires while China is fractured by civil war and social upheaval. At a party, she meets Hanchin, a captivating left-wing poet and translator, and instantly falls in love with him.
When Leiyin defies her father to pursue Hanchin, she learns the harsh truth—that she is powerless over her fate. Her punishment for disobedience leads to exile, an unwanted marriage, a pregnancy, and, ultimately, her death. And when she discovers what she must do to be released from limbo into the afterlife, Leiyin realizes that the time for making amends is shorter than she thought.
Suffused with history and literature, Three Souls is an epic tale of revenge and betrayal, forbidden love, and the price we are willing to pay for freedom.
- William Morrow
- Paperback
- February 2014
- 496 Pages
- 9780062293190
Buy the Book
$16.99
About Janie Chang
Born in Taiwan, Janie Chang spent part of her childhood in the Philippines, Iran, and Thailand. She holds a degree in computer science and is a graduate of the Writer’s Studio Program at Simon Fraser University. Three Souls is her first novel.
Praise
“Compelling and utterly original. Janie Chang’s riveting debut gives us so much: a complex heroine, a window into the vanished world of pre-Communist China, a fascinating plot and language that sings. An intoxicating story of family, ambition and the risks we take for love.”—NYT Bestselling Author Tara Conklin, author of The House Girls
“A triumph. There is so much magic here, such generous imagining. The prose sings while the story is told in surging crescendo that makes us race to know what happens.”—Beverly Swerling, author of City of Dreams and Bristol House
“A tour de force. Evocative of Lisa See at her best, Three Souls vividly conjures life in pre-Mao China, and runs the emotional gamut from playful to haunting. This original story and its sympathetic heroine will stay with you long after the final pages.”—Daniel Kalla, author of The Far Side of the Sky and Rising Sun, Falling Shadow
“A glorious, deeply readable novel-the kind you pick up and read voraciously, every chance you get. The kind you get lost in.”—Shaena Lambert, author of Radiance and Oh, My Darling
Discussion Questions
Leiyin’s three souls manifest
three very distinct and different
personalities. What do you think
the souls represent, individually
and collectively? What do you
think their role is in the story?
Pre–World War II China was
a time of great turmoil. What
details and descriptions of
ordinary life does the author use
to evoke the social and political
transitions taking place?
Think about the conflicts that
women of Leiyin’s generation
experienced during this time of
transition. How are they similar
to the experiences of immigrant
women today? How are they
different?
Three Souls makes a strong
statement about how women
were treated in Chinese society.
Of all the examples showing how
women were oppressed, which
affected you the most, and why?
What new information did you
learn about Chinese history,
society, or family dynamics? Were
there any passages or scenes in the
novel that you felt gave you fresh
insights into that time and place?
In Leiyin’s memories of her times
with Hanchin, what tips us off
that he is just toying with her?
Discuss what Leiyin doesn’t see or
won’t acknowledge that she sees.
Throughout Part One, Leiyin is
warned repeatedly to obey her
father. What do we know about
her father that might cause her to
believe he will eventually give in
to her or at least forgive her?
Many readers consider
Stepmother the most interesting
secondary character of the novel.
Do you agree? What makes her
so memorable and admirable—
especially given the constraints
of the era and her status in the
family?
The female characters are not
the only ones whose lives are
constrained. Discuss how some
of the male characters are also
trapped by tradition.
In many ways this is a coming-of-
age story—in which the final
coming of age happens after the
protagonist dies. In each of the
three parts of the novel, how does
Leiyin grow and mature? What
does she learn about herself or
the way the world works?
At the end of the novel, do you
think Leiyin will succeed in
ascending to the afterlife? Why
or why not? Do you find the
Consider the structure of the
novel. The author changes
between past tense and present
tense. Do you feel this is
confusing or effective?