Can Qianze unravel the mysterious prophecy that lurks inside her estranged father’s confused mind?
This February, our Book Of The Month is Alice Evelyn Yang’s ethereal debut, A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing, published by Dead Ink. It’s a dark, magical realist, family saga that unfolds as Qianze, a young woman living in New York City, is confronted by the father who walked out on their family eleven years earlier — disappearing without a trace. Now he’s returned, but something is wrong with his mind.
While Qianze wrestles with what she owes the almost-stranger living in her apartment, Ba cycles between alcoholic stupor and confused hysteria. During his brief moments of lucidity, he desperately seeks to impart a mysterious prophecy unto his daughter — one that is now lost inside his own mind.
Seeking to follow the thread of memory, Ba tells stories of his youth back in China — revealing their family’s history during the Cultural Revolution and Red August — as well as stories from his own mother’s youth under Japanese occupation. Qianze, who has always wanted to know more about her family history, learns more than she bargained for as the past proves far darker than she could ever have imagined.
Simultaneously, Qianze is plagued by mysterious dreams and strange visions — fox spirits trail her on her evening commute, a terrifying jackalope stalks her nightmares, and Ba’s looming prophecy slinks ever closer.
Blending surreal, dreamlike imagery with a powerfully real tale of familial grief and generational trauma, A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing is one of the most accomplished debuts I’ve read in a long time. Yang’s prose conjures the mundane and provocative with equal literary grace, while maintaining a surreal quality that reflects the novels folkloric influences.
Yang’s characters ground the dreamy narrative in real life stakes. Qianze is brilliantly realised as a woman of two worlds, struggling to hold both together following the intrusion of the man she wished she knew. Yang’s handling of this complex paternal dynamic is profoundly moving, as we watch Qianze wrestle with her warring desires to both embrace and shun her father. In this way, Beast expertly balances it’s kitchen sink themes with it’s more unsettling ideas, ensuring that they compliment (rather than overwhelm) each other.
Spanning decades and continents, A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing makes for an ambitious and supremely confident debut that grapples with the legacy of colonialism through the eyes of three generations. Yang’s novel sticks an impressive landing, resulting in a powerful tale of family, fate, and forgiveness, that will leave you speechless.
A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing needs to be read to be believed.
Praise For A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing
“Witches, shamans and eerie prophecies bring an otherworldly flavour to a complex story played out on a vastly ambitious scale.”
— Financial Times
“Alice Evelyn Yang’s richly threaded novel sings with artful prose and unforgettable storytelling, reminding us of the promise of redemption, even amid the dark consequences of violence. This is a book that will stir you to your core.”
— Thao Thai, author of Banyan Moon
“A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing is a breathtaking meditation on memory and the quiet violence of history where the past refuses to stay buried… this is a novel of rare depth and resonance.” — Lucy Rose, author of The Lamb
A Beast Slinks Towards Beijing is published by Dead Ink
9781917792103 | PB | £11.99 | Out 19th February 2026
