The Library of Legends

In 1937, when Japanese bombs begin falling on the city of Nanking, nineteen-year-old Hu Lian and her classmates at Minghua University are ordered to flee. Lian joins a convoy of students, faculty and staff who must walk a thousand miles to the safety of China's western provinces, a journey marred by the constant threat of aerial attack.

The convoy has been entrusted with a priceless treasure: a five-hundred-year-old collection of myths and folklore known as the Library of Legends. On the road Lian becomes friends with, and forms a cautious romance with, the wealthy Liu Shaoming. But after one classmate is arrested and another is murdered, she realises she must escape before a family secret puts her in danger too.

During the journey Lian learns of the connection between her two companions and one of the tales in the Library of Legends, The Willow Star and the Prince. The revelation carries profound consequences — for as the ancient books travel across China, they awaken immortals and guardian spirits who set out on an exodus of their own, one that will change the country's fate forever.