Miles Franklin Literary Award winner Ghost Cities by Siang Lu is a unique and wacky novel inspired by China’s uninhabited megacities. The story spans dual timelines – Imperial China and Modern day China and Sydney.

where no matter what I try I can’t remember the details – only it was important and now I have lost it maybe forever – then I am dismembered. I have lost a part of myself. Violently so. That is actually how I feel. A dismemberment. Is that strange?

Xiang Lu, a Chinese Australian is fired from his job at the Chinese consulate in Sydney when it’s discovered he’s been using Google Translate for his work as he doesn’t speak Chinese. #BadChinese goes viral on social media and Chinese film director Baby Boa engages Xiang Lu to attract attention for his latest film. Boa has turned one of China’s ghost cities into a 24/7 film set, where all the population are actors. 

In the ancient timeline an Imperial Emperor who rules with an iron fist at a time of concubines, Royal decrees and official tasters, has 1000 doubles because he is afraid of being assassinated. They all start making Royal decisions.

Word travelled fast. By the time of His coronation, rumour was already circulating the courts that young Lu Huang Du had conspired to usurp His father’s throne. Well, he certainly had not planned it that way, but He was nothing if not an opportunist. When whispers of patricide and regicide spread through the Imperial Court, He uttered not denials.

Ghost Cities is a wild ride – part historical and part contemporary fiction, urban fantasy and satire all rolled into one. An imaginative tale about power, superstition, corruption, and how illusion and reality intersect. There is even a love story in there amongst all the chaos.