The Hour of the Locust

After locusts destroy their crops, a group of desperate farmers swap their seeds and hoes for guns and knives as they swarm into the idyllic village of Ancestral Worshippers Shrine in search of food, drink and female company.

The kind villagers are welcoming but when it comes to bidding their visitors a fond farewell, there’s a problem: the bandits won’t leave. They draw lots to see which of them will be the new Village Head, but when they start drawing lots for new wives, the villagers start to rebel.

In this earthy novel of rivalry and revenge in rural China, Yang Zhengguang gives us an unforgettable crop of characters in a landscape blighted by greedy locusts and unscrupulous men hungry for power.

This book is part of Shaanxi Stories, a series of translated works by acclaimed authors from the Shaanxi province of China, produced by Valley Press in collaboration with Northwest University, Xi’an. The series editors are Hu Zongfeng and Robin Gilbank.