“Ash’s book paints a telling portrait of this most restless generation raised in a system that has provided them with unprecedented personal opportunities while denying them political ones . . . A gifted observer.”—Washington Post If China will rule the world one day, who will rule China? There are more than 320 million Chinese between the ages of sixteen and thirty. Children of the one-child policy, born after Mao, with no memory of the Tiananmen Square massacre, they are the first net native generation to come of age in a market-driven, more international China. Their experiences and aspirations were formed in a radically different country from the one that shaped their elders, and their lives will decide the future of their nation and its place in the world. Wish Lanterns offers a deep dive into the life stories of six young Chinese. Dahai is a military child, netizen, and self-styled loser. Xiaoxiao is a hipster from the freezing north. “Fred,” born on the tropical southern island of Hainan, is the daughter of a Party official, while Lucifer is a would-be international rock star. Snail is a country boy and Internet gaming addict, and Mia is a fashionista rebel from far west Xinjiang. Following them as they grow up, go to college, find work and love, all the while navigating the pressure of their parents and society, Wish Lanterns paints a vivid portrait of Chinese youth culture and of a millennial generation whose struggles and dreams reflect the larger issues confronting China today.

A compassionate memoir about a father’s relationship with his children, the healing power of a small act of kindness, and the proof that love is everlasting. Love you, Dad. Miss you so much. Steph. A brokenhearted daughter scribbled those words on a sky lantern before sending it off to her father in heaven who had passed away. Halfway across the country, Steph’s lantern landed in Matt Mikalatos’s yard. As a father of three daughters, Matt could not let that heart-wrenching note unanswered, so he posted an open letter to her on his blog, which went viral overnight. Little did he know how that small act of kindness would lead him to the real Steph and change his family’s life in remarkable ways. A poignant and lyrical account of the beauty and wonder found in domestic life, Sky Lantern shows how the miraculous events that followed Matt finding the sky lantern in his yard—and the widespread and lasting impact his letter had—prove that the bond between a parent and their child can last forever.

Meet Lin Yi — a little boy with a big heart and a talent for bargaining. Tonight is the moon festival and he wants nothing more than a red rabbit lantern; but first he must buy the things his mother needs at the market. This heartwarming story shows the rewards of putting others first, and includes educational notes at the end about the Chinese moon festival, life in rural China, and the legend of the moon fairy.

Anya's wish, whispered to a starlit owl, sets her on a magical journey up the Wishing Peak. Facing riddles on a field of vibrant blooms and trials etched into ancient trees, she unlocks the mountain's secrets, learning to weave dreams not just into constellations, but into the fabric of the world itself. But a storm of darkness threatens their beacon of hope. Can Anya and her friends, armed with moonlit threads and a symphony of starlight, defend their wishes and rewrite the sky with courage and love? Join Anya on her breathtaking adventure, where wishes take flight, dreams become reality, and the whispers on the wind guide you to a world where magic awaits at every turn.

"She claimed her spot on the transplanter and laughed and bounced across the fields, an eighty--year-old Big Bird figure with hefty boobs and a potty mouth..." She was everyone's favorite. Get to know Ohio's most spirited firecracker, Leona "Loany" Rice, who splits her time on earth sampling life on both sides of the law. Her niece gives us an inside look at a notorious bookie and numbers racketeer, talk of the town, fireworks distributor, "Granny" to the mentally disabled, farmhand, loving mother--a perpetual "fart in a twister" who never seems to stand still. Even after a family tragedy threatens to destroy her, she finds a way to persevere. Loany lived as we all wish to, with abandon, humor, and just the right amount of sass; and she did it all with the love of her life by her side. Her legacy was to teach all who knew her a lesson: you only live once--and by God, once is enough if you give it all you've got. Margie Hiermer's love of adventure comes from country bike rides to Goldhardt's Grocery as a child to visit Aunt "Loany," a woman more grandmother than grand-aunt. Hiermer brings her passion for engaging with others to her writing and winds down by poking around farm fields in search of treasure.

“Paints a telling portrait of this most restless generation raised in a system that has provided them with unprecedented personal opportunities while denying them political ones. . . . A gifted observer.”—Washington Post "Informative and often humorous . . . Presents a refreshing range of perspectives about being twenty-something in China."—Forbes “Masterfully crafted.”—Los Angeles Review of Books “A perceptive and quietly profound book.”—Booklist, starred review "Compelling and beautifully written."—Prospect China’s new youth are the generation that will change China. Offspring of the one-child policy, with no memory of Tiananmen, they are destined to transform both their nation and the world. Understanding their motivations, dreams, and attitudes is possibly the most important gauge of China’s future direction as it plays an increasingly important role in shaping this century. China’s New Youth follows the lives of six young Chinese as they navigate their aspirations, discontents, politics, and love lives. Their stories include a netizen nationalist, a country migrant, the daughter of a Party member, a rising pop star, and a feminist entrepreneur. With intimate access to this diverse generation, Alec Ash—a young writer based in China since 2012—gives a vivid, immersive, fascinating account of young China as it comes of age. China's New Youth was originally published in hardcover until the title Wish Lanterns: Young Lives in New China. The new paperback edition has been updated with a new preface and afterword by the author and a new foreword by Karoline Kan.

“A whirlwind love affair, a wife who dies under mysterious circumstances, and a string of murder—and ghosts!—all set in a crumbling countryside estate in Provence. This haunting tale is everything you could want in a Gothic mystery that doesn’t also include a heroine named Jane Eyre.” — Redbook Set in the lush countryside of Provence, Deborah Lawrenson’s The Lantern is an atmospheric modern gothic tale of love, suspicion, and murder, in the tradition of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. Drawn to a confident and artistic wealthy older man she barely knows, bookish Eve recklessly embarks on a whirlwind affair that soon offers a new life and a new home—Les Genévriers, a charming yet decaying hamlet nestled amid the fragrant lavender fields of Provence. But with autumn’s arrival the days begin to cool—and so, too, does Dom. Though Eve knows he bears the emotional scars of a failed marriage—which he refuses to talk about—his silence arouses suspicion and uncertainty. And, like its owner, Les Genévriers is also changing. Bright, warm rooms have turned cold and uninviting; shadows now fall unexpectedly; and Eve senses a presence moving through the garden. Is it a ghost from the past—or a manifestation of her current troubles with Dom? Can she trust Dom—or could her life truly be in danger? An evocative tale of romantic and psychological suspense, The Lantern masterfully melds past and present, secrets and lies, appearances and disappearances—along with our age-old fear of the dark.

A new collection of short stories by a master of the form with a common focus on the turmoils of romantic love Ready! Aim! On command the firing squad aims at the man backed against a full-length mirror. The mirror once hung in a bedroom, but now it's cracked and propped against a dumpster in an alley. The condemned man has refused the customary last cigarette but accepted as a hood the black slip that was carelessly tossed over a corner of the mirror's frame. The slip still smells faintly of a familiar fragrance. So begins "Tosca," the first in this vivid collection of Stuart Dybek's love stories. Operatically dramatic and intimately lyrical, grittily urban and impressionistically natural, the varied fictions in Paper Lantern all focus on the turmoil of love as only Dybek can portray it. An execution triggers the recollection of a theatrical romance; then a social worker falls for his own client; and lovers part as giddily, perhaps as hopelessly, as a kid trying to hang on to a boisterous kite. A flaming laboratory evokes a steamy midnight drive across terrain both familiar and strange, and an eerily ringing phone becomes the telltale signature of a dark betrayal. Each story is marked with contagious desire, spontaneous revelation, and, ultimately, resigned courage. As one woman whispers when she sets a notebook filled with her sketches drifting out to sea, "Someone will find you." Some of Dybek's characters recur in these stories, while others appear only briefly. Throughout, they—and we—are confronted with vaguely familiar scents and images, reminiscent of love but strangely disconcerting, so that we might wonder whether we are looking in a mirror or down the barrel of a gun. "After the ragged discharge," Dybek writes, "when the smoke has cleared, who will be left standing and who will be shattered into shards?" Paper Lantern brims with the intoxicating elixirs known to every love-struck, lovelorn heart, and it marks the magnificent return of one of America's most important fiction writers at the height of his powers.

"Take a tour of the many delightful ways children from cultures around the world help their wishes come true"--Dust jacket.