The Lap of the Gods is a novel set in China that resonates with the truth of our times. The world's largest dam rises up, leaving the poor without recourse as entire cities and villages go under water. The past is erased in the name of progress. Liu has lost all that is dear to him; his wife and unborn child have died, and his old town was flooded by the Three Gorges dam. In battling their own demons, Liu and Fang encounter the underbelly of China's rampant growth. This is a story of defiance, weaving together a poor man's struggle to survive in the modern world and a rich man's attempt to reclaim the past.
Li Miao Lovett began her writing career after a 600-mile backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail where she encountered a stalker, a compulsive poet, and ten thousand mosquitoes. She has been a frequent contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle, China Rights Forum, and KQED Perspectives, focusing on environmental issues before it was hip to be green. In both fiction and nonfiction, Li’s work has won awards or finalist standing from Glimmer Train, Writers Digest, Stanford Magazine, and the James Jones First Novel Fellowship. In the Lap of the Gods, her debut novel, is a tale of love and loss set in China's Three Gorges. Li is an alumna of Stanford University and lives in San Francisco.
Free.
Open to the public.