Mesmerizing, fantastical tale of a Beijing taxi driver whose past incarnations over a thousand years haunt him through searing letters sent by a mysterious soulmate

A New York Times Editors' Choice and Notable Book of the Year.
Shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction

'Reads as China's Midnight's Children. Utterly remarkable' Independent
'A kaleidoscopically imaginative novel' The New Yorker
'Multi-layered and masterful' Guardian

I dream of us across the centuries ...

Beijing, 2008, the Olympics are coming, but as taxi driver Wang circles the city's congested streets, he feels barely alive. His daily grind is suddenly interrupted when he finds a letter in the sunshade of his cab. He is being warned: Someone is watching him. Someone who claims to be his soulmate and to have known him for over a thousand years.

Other letters follow, taking Wang back in time: to a spirit-bride in the Tang Dynasty; to young slaves during the Mongol invasion; to concubines plotting to kill the emperor; to a kidnapping in the Opium War; and to Red Guards during the Cultural revolution.

And with each letter, Wang feels the watcher in the shadows growing closer ...
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PRAISE FOR SUSAN BARKER:

'[A] kaleidoscopically imaginative novel...Barker stitches together an unnervingly perceptive portrait of China and of the enduring influence that its past has on the present' THE NEW YORKER

'A thrilling journey through a thousand years of obsession and betrayal, this is the most extraordinary work of imagination you'll read all year' ADAM JOHNSON, Winner of the PULITZER Prize for Fiction

'Erudite, intriguing and compulsively readable, Susan Barker, a born story-teller, has written one of the most remarkable novels of recent years' JOHN BOYNE

'A brilliant, mind-expanding, and wildly original novel' CHRIS CLEAVE

'A hallucinatory ride. Highly recommend' ANNA HOPE

Reads as China's Midnight's Children. Utterly remarkable * The Independent *
An extraordinary novel. Erudite, intriguing and compulsively readable, THE INCARNATIONS takes the reader on an intimate and mesmerizing journey through Chinese history. Susan Barker, a born story-teller, has written one of the most remarkable novels of recent years. -- JOHN BOYNE
A thrilling journey through a thousand years of obsession and betrayal and a vivid tapestry of the individual's struggle against the tyranny of history, this is the most extraordinary work of imagination you'll read all year -- ADAM JOHNSON, WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION 2013
A brilliant, mind-expanding and wildly original novel -- CHRIS CLEAVE
What a ferociously talented writer Susan Barker is. The Incarnations is a hallucinatory ride. Highly recommend -- ANNA HOPE, Author of WAKE
Remarkable - ambitious in scope, painstakingly researched and most importantly, a gripping read. * Publishing Perspectives *
Letters from someone who claims to have known him for 1,000 years unsettle a cabbie. * The Observer *
A MUST-READ - July picks * Marie-Claire Magazine *
Ambitious in scope, scholarly in depth, and absolutely rivetting ...Sure to make an impact and she deserves all the praise - and most likely prize(s) - that will follow. * South China Post *
Light and often witty ...There is tragedy, though perhaps not where the reader expects it, but there is also hope. * www.thatsmags.com China *

Susan Barker grew up in east London and lives in Manchester where she is senior lecturer in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. She is the author of SAYONARA BAR, THE ORIENTALIST AND THE GHOST and THE INCARNATIONS which was a New York Times Notable Book, a Kirkus Reviews' Top Ten Book of the Year and shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction.