the saga was kinda interesting but it kinda fell flat to me in comparison to a lot of similar works. 3 stars. tysm for the arc

This multi-generational story of the women in a Chinese family was so interesting. Starting in 1917, it gives a young girl's perception of her life before and then during the Chinese Revolution. Yunhong is living her life as she planned and largely trying not to pay attention to revolutionaries, until all her plans are destroyed on her wedding night.

Yunhong's daughter never knows her father, and as far as readers know, she isn't even told much of her own backstory. Her feelings about this are passed on to her own twin daughters, who grow up in China with much of their paths dictated to them. As they reach adulthood, the twins go their separate ways, largely as a result of their traumatic childhood.

The last section of the book is mostly about Yonghung, the twin who has moved to America, married and is raising a daughter, Emily. Her mother also moves there to be with her, while the other twin remains in China.

The bad breaks never really end for the family, but they seldom discuss the past which has brought them each to where they are. Without a background of much Chinese history, the telling of the stories from mostly children's perspectives conveyed a lot of feeling, but without an adult understanding of what was actually happening.

The book was enlightening and emotional, and earned 3 out of 5 stars. Those who enjoy family dramas and Chinese stories would like this book.

I love me a sweeping multigenerational historical fiction, and Their Divine Fires meets all of these criteria. It's beautifully written and as always, I learn so much from historical fiction. Highly recommend this one

Multigenerational Family Saga

Their Divine Fires by Wendy Chen is a captivating debut novel that intricately weaves together folktales and myths to tell the story of love affairs across four generations of a Chinese and Chinese American family. The narrative begins in 1917 with Yunhong, a young girl growing up in southern China, whose life is irrevocably altered by her brother's actions on her wedding night. The novel spans several decades, exploring the lives of Yunhong's descendants as they navigate the complexities of kinship, tradition, and identity in both China and America.

Wendy Chen's Their Divine Fires is a remarkable debut that offers a heartfelt and intricate portrayal of a family's journey through generations. It is a must-read for fans of intergenerational fiction and those interested in stories that highlight the complexities of cultural identity and heritage.

Historical fiction about multiple generations of Chinese woman spanning through the Chinese revolution and cultural revolution to the present. It was a bit uneven. Some stories were riveting--others confusing and not as compelling. Good overall.

Multigenerational saga of Chinese &Chinese Americans. I love historical fiction and this one was great. It was special and moving. I loved the strings of connection and how secrets can build or destroy them.

Historical fiction of a family sage and the generations of Chinese, Chinese Americans, and the power of history.

I was drawn to this as I tend to enjoy stories that deal with generations of families, seeing how things are connected and what family and ancestry mean.

Diving into the 1917s, the dawn of the Chinese Revolution in a small countryside village where Yunhong falls in love with a wealthy landlord when her family is taking care of him. But the night of her marriage her brother destroys everything. Now Yunhong's daughter, Yuexin, will never know her father. There was also a small talk about being an actor, that I found interesting. Also with talks about beauty standards.

In the book we see how families are different from one generation to another, we see how secrets can keep families together or pull them apart.

Wendy Chen is talented the skill Wendy has of weaving stories from one family member to another is nothing but powerful, and importin. There are heavy topics if you need them please look them up.

This historical fiction is a whirlwind of emotions, family drama, and issues and what it means to be a human.

Their Divine Fires by Wendy Chen is a multigenerational family saga that follows four generations of Chinese and Chinese American women as they navigate through personal loss and tragedy, social and political upheaval and much more. Spanning over a century, we follow our characters through a period of great political and social change in China – from the communist party and peasant revolts leading up to the Chinese Revolution, Japan’s invasion of China, the Cultural Revolution- to present day China and the United States. As the narrative progresses, we follow these characters and bear witness to their hardship, their strength and sacrifices and the consequences of the choices they make and the secrets they keep.

The story begins in the southern China countryside in 1917 with ten-year-old Yunhong and is shared from the perspectives of the main characters across four generations. The story continues with Yuexin, Yunhong’s daughter in China. Yonhong, one of Yuexin’s daughters, emigrates with her family to the United States while her sister Hongxing stays in China and pursues a career in acting. In the United States, Yonhong’s daughter Emily, is motivated to explore the history of the women when she chances upon an old trunk, the contents of which tell a story of love, loss and family secrets.

I loved the premise of this novel. The prose is elegant and I loved the symbolism and the vivid descriptions of the traditions as well as the setting in the first half of the novel. However, I wish the author had woven the significance of the symbolism of the shared birthmark more strongly into the narrative. The author depicts the complicated relationships and friction between the characters realistically, both from the perspectives of the characters concerned as well as those who observe them. The beginning of the story drew me in and I was immersed ( and invested ) in Yunhong’s story, which ends abruptly and we move on to the next generation with more time jumps, long gaps in the narrative and more telling than showing. The disjointed nature of the narrative that follows and the uneven pacing prevented me from connecting with any of the other characters in the story. Certain aspects of the story could have been explored more deeply and the fates of a few of the characters (who were important to the story) are only mentioned in passing as the narrative progressed.

I read an ARC of this novel and am not aware whether the finished copy includes a Note on the historical context of this novel. If it does, I believe your reading experience might be richer than my own. Though I wasn’t entirely ignorant of the political landscape of China which serves as a backdrop for this story, I felt that perhaps a bit more perspective or even a well penned Historical Note would have allowed for a better comprehension of the events that were defining moments in the characters’ lives, thereby rendering this short novel more impactful.

Many thanks to Algonquin Books for the digital review copy via NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing for the ALC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Their Divine Fires is about their struggles and loves across times and generations. It's stories about people who survive rebellion, war, and unrest. About love, arranged marriages, and the loss of our loves. It's about legacy, names, and what they mean. But what happens when we have to disavow them? There are big changes which coincide with these moments, on the precipice of a spark of igniting, and changing across the world.

This multigenerational story follows the family and hardships of four generations as well as the Chinese revolution. Broken into four parts we follow each of the women’s experiences over the years. The beginning parts were a bit more interesting than the later parts to me. As we learn more about the characters in middle and towards the end, I began to get a bit confused with who was who and where they fell in the story. It seemed the story lost its momentum. Not to spoil anything, but there was mention of one of the secrets that brought me back to the who of the story and the final parts of the book I loved. It was a beautiful wrap up of the story.

I did enjoy listening about the cultural aspects of the story and the historical pieces mentioned in the story. I thought it was interesting to read about the secrets that were kept between the women and learning how they are revealed throughout the story. I just felt at times there were things missing that could have added more to the story. I did enjoy listening to the audiobook along with reading the ebook.

I would recommend reading this if you enjoy reading about the historical, cultural, and political aspects of stories! Also, this one is inspired by the authors family history!

This multi-generational debut story gives you a lens into what people endured during the time of the Cultural Revolution in China. It is eye-opening to see what people endured and how they struggled to survive.

A captivating multi-generational saga starting at the beginning of the Chinese Revolution with Yunhong falls in love with a landowner, but whose brothers fight on the side of the communists and continuing through the consequences and trauma passed on to her descendants.

Thanks to Algonquin Books for the gifted copy. All opinions below are my own.

This story follows the women of a family through about 100 years of history from the Chinese revolution through to modern day. We see each generation coping with the change thrust upon them by the government and the impact of those changes on their lives particularly in regards to their loves. Each generation keeps their pain from their children and seems doomed to repeat the stiff upper lip attitude despite their heartbreak.

I liked the history of this story but struggled to connect to the characters as much as I wanted. I think this was due to their containment of emotions and denial of their devastating disappointments. I was most connected to Yunhong and her story but just as her heartbreak begins we get a big time jump, that was a bit too jostling to me and it took me a while to sink into the new story. I appreciated all I learned about the times but felt like this one needed a little smoothing overall.

Read this if you enjoy Lisa See.

Wendy Chen’s Their Divine Fires comes in at only 256 pages, but that length is deceptive: this is a sprawling, multi-generational tale of three generations of Chinese women that takes the reader from 1917 Liuyang, China to 2009 Massachusetts, United States.

Chen’s novel, inspired by the experiences of her own ancestors, begins with the story of a young girl, Zhang Yuexin, living with her family, including her two brothers, in Liuyang. Yuexin is devoted to her oldest brother, so when he cuts his traditional braid, angering her parents, Yuexin cuts her hair, as well. This initial symbolic event sets the stage for unrest: the family is broken when her oldest brother leaves to join the Revolution, setting them on a path that will have unexpected effects on them all.

After her brother leaves, Yuexin’s young life is again altered forever when she saves Tan Haiyang, the young son of a local wealthy lord. He stays with the family while Yuexin’s father, a doctor, cares for him. Yuexin and Haiyang form a strong connection, but once he returns home, it seems likely that they’ll never see each other again, driven apart by the distance in their families’ situations. The only hope is that he felt the connection as strongly as Yuexin did.

The narrative captures the effects of this Revolution, the ways that its aftermath cycles through the generations, moving through the Cultural Revolution of the 70s to the diaspora who make their way to the United States.

Chen’s writing is stunning, and her sense of character is so vivid. Watching the way that early generations appear again later, the ways that ancestors affect their descendants, offers powerful commentary on the cycles of history.

Despite the depth and power of its content, The Divine Fires is a propulsive read, and I can’t recommend it enough.

The female members of a family are born with a birthmark. It links them together so that they can never be parted from one another. It is a source of pride to some and shame to others. Through a changing country and political climate, this family carries burdens of the past through generations. Does love always end in sorrow?

This book was so beautiful. I was captivated from the first page. The beautiful writing pulled me in initially, but the story captured me soon after. Experiencing the Chinese Revolution from the perspective of a child and young woman removed from it was so interesting. Experiencing the loss of Yunhong’s innocence to the world was heartbreaking. You could really see how the hurt of mother transferred to daughter throughout the family line. In Yuexin’s treatment of her marriage and how it affected Hongxing and Yonghong. Yonghong’s attitude toward love and how Emily was affected. How a family that was once so close could be irrevocably changed by a decision. This is a book I will be thinking about for a while. I recommend this book to anyone looking to branch out of their usual genres. It is a great book.

Their Devine Fires follows a Chinese family through the women. It shows how Chinese culture and attitudes towards women change (or don't) over the years, how they lived and loved, and adapted to the times or fought against the grain. It's an intricate look into the lives of these women, and very enlightening, heartbreaking.

THEIR DIVINE FIRES follows three generations of Chinese women spanning one hundred years and two continents.

This is a multigenerational family saga that centers around the Zhang family - Zhang Yunhong, a Chinese countryside girl who wants to attend school, falls in love with the son of a wealthy landlord. The story is populated by love stories/affairs, of people sacrificing and giving up for the everlasting love. The romantic relationships felt organic and sweet; and the family bonds, with its flaws, felt heartwarming.

At its core, this novel captures the way huge transformations (after the end of Chinese dynastic rule and Cultural Revolution) impact the characters. How can family bonds endure the brutality of war and trauma? Chen also covers themes of heritage, family, marriage, grief, regret and political conflicts (Guomindang x Communists) with a straightforward writing that acquires a lyrical tone when touching on cultural elements, incorporating a coat of tenderness that makes one immersed in the storytelling.

Part two suffered from the slow pacing - it felt more distant and political. However, part three and four converge in a way that brought back the layers of emotions - they paint a raw depiction of people who survived and lived through changes in a volatile world. The story is chronologically told from multiple POVs and in an attempt to include several perspectives, I wish some characters were further fleshed out. The author infuses Chinese myths in the narrative and I personally thought this is one of the novel's strengths.

Inspired by the author own family’s history, THEIR DIVINE FIRES is a beautiful debut novel. Highly recommend for those wanting to learn more about Chinese history or read a sensitive historical fiction.

ps: I appreciated the family tree, which was helpful at giving a better understanding and smoother transition between POVs

Folklore and Myth in one book - sign me up please! I really enjoyed this very much and can't wait to read more by this author! The cover is amazing and will be suggesting this one for a fall friends buddy read.

1917 southern China: life, romance and heartbreak. The entire novel is very detailed and is very fast-paced: too fast really. I got confused in parts and felt it was overly wordy and the pace started to lag, especially in the parts about Chinese history. I don’t know anything about Chinese history and wanted to learn about it. I wish those parts could have been included in a more accessible way.

There were some amazing visuals, especially during the preparation for the wedding and the wedding itself.

I wanted Emily to have more involvement in the plot.

Thanks to Wendy Chen and Algonquin Books for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars.

This book kept me up till 4am, completely wrecked my circadian rhythm, and I said thank you.

A sweeping saga of family that spans four generations, a hundred years, and two continents. It's fascinating to see how the characters' experiences affect their descendants. You will root for the characters and hurt when they experience sorrow (and there's a lot of it). This is a book I will reread and recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.