The Language of Solitude

Set in Hong Kong, Sendker’s thoughtful, politically astute sequel to 2015’s Whispering Shadows finds grieving expatriate Paul Leibovitz’s tentative new happiness with Christine Wu imperiled after Christine receives a letter from her long-lost brother, Da Long. His wife, Min Fang, is a victim of a recent cluster of mysterious ailments, which Paul realizes are caused by a chemical conglomerate polluting local water. Min Fang can’t be healed, but more will suffer if the corporation is not held accountable. Da Long and his two children, elegant musician Yin-Yin and anxious Communist Party member Xiao Hu, have misgivings about Paul’s call to action. Indeed, the eyes of the state track Paul and a newly emboldened Yin-Yin’s probing, and she must decide whether justice is worth risking what’s left of the shattered family’s safety. Sendker draws on broad knowledge of Chinese politics and mores to craft scenes both comic and tragic, illuminating how ordinary people struggle to navigate opaque, omniscient systems of power. Despite a too-neat resolution, this novel offers a rich portrait of compromise and courage under a repressive state. (May)