Wintry Night is the powerful opening novel of Lee Chiao’s acclaimed Wintry Night Trilogy, a landmark work of Taiwanese literature. Set before and during the period of Japanese colonial rule, it follows the Peng family as they leave their home to begin anew in the mountainous frontier of Miaoli, driven by hope for stability and prosperity. Instead, they encounter hardship, land dispossession, and the harsh realities of life on the margins of empire.

With emotional precision and unflinching clarity, Lee Chiao captures the struggles of rural Hakka communities as they navigate a world shaped by external control and internal resilience. Through the intimate lens of family life, the novel explores broader themes of colonial oppression, cultural survival, and the enduring human desire for dignity and belonging.

Both sweeping and deeply personal, Wintry Night is a portrait of a people and a place in transition. It lays the foundation for a generational saga that traces the awakening of social consciousness and resistance in Taiwan, while standing on its own as a moving and essential work of historical fiction.