HOW MUCH OF THESE HILLS IS GOLD
By C Pam Zhang
Riverhead, April 7, 2020
Ba dies in the night; Ma is already gone. Newly orphaned children of immigrants, Lucy and Sam are suddenly alone in a land that refutes their existence. Fleeing the threats of their western mining town, they set off to bury their father in the only way that will set them free from their past. Along the way, they encounter giant buffalo bones, tiger paw prints, and the specters of a ravaged landscape as well as family secrets, sibling rivalry, and glimpses of a different kind of future.
Both epic and intimate, blending Chinese symbolism and re-imagined history with fiercely original language and storytelling, How Much of These Hills Is Goldis a haunting adventure story, an unforgettable sibling story, and the announcement of a stunning new voice in literature. On a broad level, it explores race in an expanding country and the question of where immigrants are allowed to belong. But page by page, it’s about the memories that bind and divide families, and the yearning for home.
Selected Praise
“C Pam Zhang’s debut is ferocious, dark and gleaming, a book erupting out of the interstices between myth and dream, between longing and belonging. How Much of These Hills Is Gold tells us that stories–like people, like the rough and stunning landscape of California itself–are constantly in the process of being made, broken, and finally remade into something tender and new.” — Lauren Groff, author of Fates and Furies
“How Much of These Hills is a miracle, as timely as it is timeless, propulsive but also wonderfully meditative, a ferocious, tender epic about a vulnerable immigrant family trying to survive the American Gold Rush. I read it in one night and know I’ll revisit it soon: I envy you your first read of this book.” — R.O. Kwon, author of The Incendiaries
“This exhilarating novel unweaves the myths of the American West and offers in their place a gorgeous, broken, soulful, feral song of family and yearning, origin and earth. C Pam Zhang is a brilliant, fearless writer. This book is a wonder.” — Garth Greenwell, author of What Belongs to You
About the Author
Born in Beijing but mostly an artifact of the United States, C Pam Zhang is the recipient of support from Tin House, Bread Loaf, Aspen Words, and elsewhere. Her work lives in publications such as Kenyon Review, The Pushcart Prize Anthology, and McSweeney’s Quarterly; she herself has lived in thirteen cities across four countries and is still pondering home.