Bronze and Sunflower

A classic, heartwarming tale set to the backdrop of the Chinese cultural revolution, with the timeless feels of Eva Ibbotson's Journey to the River Sea.

A beautifully written, timeless tale by bestselling Chinese author Cao Wenxuan, winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award. When Sunflower, a young city girl, moves to the countryside, she grows to love the reed marsh lands – the endlessly flowing river, the friendly buffalo with their strong backs and shiny round heads, the sky that stretches on and on in its vastness. However, the days are long, and the little girl is lonely. Then she meets Bronze, who, unable to speak, is ostracized by the other village boys. Soon the pair are inseparable, and when Bronze’s family agree to take Sunflower in, it seems that fate has brought him the sister he has always longed for. But life in Damaidi is hard, and Bronze’s family can barely afford to feed themselves. Will the city girl be able to stay in this place where she has finally found happiness?

This quiet and gentle story woven through with thoughtfulness and bright love will stay with me a long time. -- Zoe Toft Playing By the Book
The story successfully crosses the cultural divide and young readers will find it engrossing. The Tribune
However old you are, this book will expand your horizons. A Year of Reading the World
The perilous life of rural China is meticulously documented in this stunning, slow novel set in the shadow of the Cultural Revolution. Inis Reading Guide
It is a rare treat to come across a book that you want to keep with you for days after reading, to dip into again at leisure, be it for the beauty of the writing, the resonance of the story, or the luminosity of the imagery. Such a book is Bronze and Sunflower. Children's Books Ireland
…Sticking with international books, but in an entirely different vein (though likewise pretty special), there’s the heart-warming Chinese novel Bronze and Sunflower by Cao Wenxuan, in a translation by Helen Wang. It’s a lyrical, engaging story […] set during the Cultural Revolution, which began in China in 1966, but the story feels somehow timeless, too. The Independent

Cao Wenxuan is one of China's most important children's writers and is widely considered the country's most subtle and philosophical, often referred to as China's very own Hans Christian Andersen. He is a professor of Chinese literature at Peking University, and has in turn taught some of China's best young writers. Many of his books have been bestsellers, including Thatched Cottage and Red Gourd, and his work has been translated into French, Russian, Japanese, Korean and English. Cao has won several of China's most prestigious awards for children's literature, including the Song Qingling and Bing Xin prizes, and is current winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award.

Helen Wang has a BA Hons in Chinese from SOAS and is currently a Curator of East Asian Money at the British Museum. She has written and edited numerous books and articles and has been translating from Chinese to English for nearly 25 years, including, for children, Jackal and Wolf by SHEN Shixi and Pai Hua Zi and the Clever Girl by Zhang Xinxin. She lives with her family in north London.

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