14/05/2026
Last Sunday, the 10th May, I made the annual pilgrimage to enjoy the delights of the Althorp Literary Festival. I thought we were going to miss our first talk with Charles Spencer and Cat Jarman, Digging Up The Past experience, after the SatNav insisted we travel through Northampton, but we arrived in the nick of time.
I was so glad, as it was a wonderful conversation that highlighted their love for their careers in historical writing and archaeology, and, very sweetly, their love for each other and the wonderful qualities they bring out in each other. It was a very interesting and enjoyable.
It was also a great privilege to meet and listen to Jung Chang, author of Wild Swans and her newly published book, Fly Wild Swans.
I remember reading Wild Swans many years ago and being shocked by the contents. Jung Chang’s Wild Swans was a book that defined a generation, an epic personal history of Jung, her mother and grandmother – ‘three daughters of China’. The book opens in 1909 with her grandmother’s birth – and foot-binding – when China was under the last emperor, moving through Mao Zedong’s rule, especially the Cultural Revolution, during which Jung’s parents were subjected to horrendous ordeals because of their courage. It finishes in 1978 when Deng Xiaoping officially ended the Mao era and started the ‘reforms’.
Fly, Wild Swans is the follow-up to Wild Swans and brings the story of Jung’s family – along with that of China – up to date. The book is in many ways Jung’s love letter to her mother. She very sadly told us that her mother died in China a few weeks ago, and she was unable to visit her, due to how her writing is viewed by the current government. However, her mother encouraged Jung to write and tell the world what was happening, and she would be very proud of her daughter's latest book.
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