Little Aunt Crane, A Survival Tale of a Japanese Woman Left Behind in Manchuria

Geling Yan, the acclaimed Chinese novelist and screenwriter, is perhaps best known to English speakers for her novella 13 Flowers of Nanjing, which was made into the movie Flowers of War.

Whether or not Yan wrote her latest, much longer novel Little Aunt Crane, with a movie adaptation in mind, it has a cinematic feel, with a sweeping timeframe, multiple themes, and a fast-paced plot with a series of dramatic incidents. These include: one woman losing her baby in ghastly circumstances, and another one giving birth on a mountainside; a suspicious death that is probably murder; battles between different factions in a factory; a character reappearing decades after she was last heard of, to create a hopeful ending.