The Walls of Wuchang1926. Wuhan is in lockdown. Fourteen years ago, its heroes toppled Chinas last emperor, but at great cost. Patriots became politicians. Reformers became warlords. Now at Wuchang, the ancient walled city anchoring the metropolis to the Yangtze, they fight to the death. Former comrades and broken families watch each other through iron crosshairs. For Chiang Kaisheks unproven government forces camped outside, victory means a chance at national salvation.

Much of the book displays an ambivalence towards the land and its rituals

– Sarah Bernstein

the quality of light in a sky

Grounded in myths and storytelling

Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang army are holding out in central and southwestern China

Peter Clark reviews Modern Arabic Literature by Paul Starkey

clear and illuminating

It is a collection that abounds in loss

His previous collections include Humouring the Iron Bar Man

For I will consider my cat Jeoffry

and openness to the cycles and rhythms of the day

‘Trust me