A posthumous novel by
Dr Tsewang Yishey Pemba, the founding father of Tibetan-English literature, White Crane, Lend me
your Wings is a historical fiction set in the breathtakingly beautiful
Nyarong Valley of the Kham province of Eastern Tibet in the first half of the
twentieth century. Dr Pemba skillfully weaves a dazzling tapestry of individual
lives and sweeping events creating an epic vision of a country and people
during a time of tremendous upheaval. The novel begins with a never-told-before
story of a failed Christian mission in Tibet and takes one into the heartland
of Eastern Tibet by capturing the zeitgeist of the fierce warrior tribe of
Khampas ruled by chieftains. This coming-of-age narrative is a riveting tale of
vengeance, warfare and love unfolded through the life story of two young boys
and their family and friends. The personal drama gets embroiled in a national
catastrophe as China invades Tibet forcing it out of its isolation. Ultimately,
the novel delves into themes such as tradition versus modernity, individual
choice and freedom, the nature of governance, the role of religion in people’s
lives, the inevitability of change, and the importance of human values such as
loyalty and compassion.
Praises for White
Crane, Lend me your Wings
"In this novel, Tsewang
Pemba has evoked the tribal milieu of Kham, Tibet’s ‘wild east’ with its own
sense of family and tribal honor where revenge and banditry were a way of
life. Above all, White Crane, Lend Me Your Wings tells the fate of Tibet when
it was confronted by the modern world in the form of communist China." — HINDUSTAN
TIMES
"The Novel delves
into themes such as tradition versus modernity, individual choice and freedom,
the nature of governance, the role of religion in people’s lives, the
inevitability of change, and the importance of human values such as loyalty and
compassion." — COSMOPOLITAN
"Rich in description, the text is conversational in tone yet packs in
enough nuance. This book would be of interest to those keen to learn about the
recent history of eastern Tibet." —THE WEEK