The book that has captivated millions of Chinese readers, translated into English for the very first time.
''Hypnotic . . . A record of one person''s fierce refusal to follow a path laid down for her by the rest of the world'' Tash Aw, Paris Review Books of the Year
Sanmao: author, adventurer, pioneer. Born in China in 1943, she moved from Chongqing to Taiwan, Spain to Germany, the Canary Islands to Central America, and, for several years in the 1970s, to the Sahara.
Stories of the Sahara invites us into Sanmao’s extraordinary life in the desert: her experiences of love and loss, freedom and peril, all told with a voice as spirited as it is timeless.
At a period when China was beginning to look beyond its borders, Sanmao fired the imagination of millions and inspired a new generation. With an introduction by Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti, this is an essential collection from one of the twentieth century’s most iconic figures.
''Every story conveys Sanmao’s infectious capacity for wonder’ Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti
''Has endured for generations of young Taiwanese and Chinese women'' New York Times
''Ground-breaking'' Geographical
''A remarkable and brave book. Sanmao was a freewheeling feminist who broke all the rules and did so with a gleeful, mischievous smile'' David Eimer, South China Morning Post
這片沙漠的風情萬種,
讓我學習著去愛每一個人,
和世上的一草一木一沙……
只有對愛它的人,
它才向你呈現它的美麗和溫柔,
將你的愛情,
用它亙古不變的大地和天空,默默的回報著你……
彷彿來自前世的召喚,三毛終於來到她心心念念的夢想之地——撒哈拉,在這片廣袤的大地,度過了五彩繽紛、滋味無窮的日子。
她和心愛的荷西結婚,在物質貧乏的沙漠裡,用棺木板、怪石、廢鐵打造他們的家。她與鄰居們的互動讓人好氣又好笑,從日常用品到丈夫都差點被討走,甚至無所不能地當起他們的代書、護士、老師與裁縫。她為生活費盡心思,省吃儉用張羅柴米油鹽,但也不忘用植物、書本和藝術品保持浪漫情懷。
她更見證了令人心碎的動盪與別離。在屠殺中失去親人的孤獨軍曹,帶著仇恨度日,卻犧牲自己的生命拯救誤觸地雷的敵族孩子;沙漠的政局變動下,渴望獨立的年輕戰士慷慨赴義,只留下一地炙熱的血與駱駝的悲鳴……
三毛的撒哈拉歲月有悲也有喜,這裡的一草一木一沙,這些使她笑淚交織的人們,如光照進了每一個日子,滋長著她對生命濃烈的愛,也讓她捨不得離開。
——中文簡介摘自皇冠出版《撒哈拉歲月》