Fate
Set in a tight-knit coastal town in southern China, *Fate* unfolds through the eyes of the narrator’s grandmother, weaving together generations of women’s stories of struggle, loss, and quiet resilience. At the heart is Tai Tai, a sharp-witted 99-year-old who treats death like a life skill, joining a local 'death-watching club' to learn the ropes of passing well. We follow the narrator’s mother, a bound-foot widow who rages against fate after her husband vanishes at sea, and Auntie Hao, a spirit medium who bridges the living and dead, listening to ghosts’ unfulfilled wishes. Through typhoons, famines, and political upheaval, the family clings to their land, traditions, and each other—turning hardship into grit, and viewing death not as an end, but as a natural chapter in the messy, beautiful story of being alive.