She Who Became the Sun

In famine-stricken fourteenth-century China, a peasant boy is promised greatness while his sister is told to expect nothing. When death destroys their family, the surviving child takes the name Zhu Chongba and seeks shelter in a monastery, determined to claim the future foretold for her brother. Survival soon opens onto larger ambitions as rebellion unsettles Mongol rule. Zhu must navigate violence, loyalty and the fear that a stolen destiny can be taken away. An unexpected connection with Ma Xiuying complicates a life built around relentless self-reinvention. The opening volume of The Radiant Emperor turns imperial history into a fantasy of power and desire, with a protagonist whose relationship to gender cannot be reduced to a simple disguise.