A raw deal can leave you dead in the water

*The life of a country bumpkin is worth no more than a melon?

The boat-dwellers upriver have been punting watermelons down to the market by Tiexing bridge for as long as the townsfolk can remember. A precarious relationship at the best of times, things quickly turn sour when a peddler turns up dead, prompting a pitched battle between fruit vendors and their urban clients.

In the uneasy peace that follows, a forlorn, elderly mother looks to sail their family's livelihood home. But after the pandemonium, no one is sure where her dead son’s barge ended up. How much help can she expect from a town still reeling from rioting and mass arrests?

Cruelty and kindness are interwoven in award-winning writer Su Tong’s new collection of short stories, written in a characteristically surreal mode that is both nightmarish and lyrical, reminiscent of a bad dream yet also joyful and hopeful.

Translated by: Honey Watson