Birdless Summer

Birdless Summer
First edition (UK)
AuthorHan Suyin
LanguageEnglish
Genreautobiography, history
Published
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint (book)
Pages347
Preceded byA Mortal Flower 
Followed byMy House Has Two Doors 

Birdless Summer is a 1968 autobiography by Chinese-Belgian-British physician and author Han Suyin.[1][2] It covers the years 1938 to 1948, her work as a midwife in Chengtu and then going to London with her husband, who was a military attaché there. Also, her training as a doctor, the start of the last phase of the Chinese Civil War, in which her husband died fighting for the Kuomintang.

She gives a vivid picture of the final years of Kuomintang rule in mainland China, and of reactions to the Japanese invasion. She also tells how she came to write her first book, Destination Chungking.

References

  1. ^ Durdin, Tillman (8 December 1968). "Between two worlds; Birdless Summer". New York Times. p. BR10. Retrieved 1 November 2025.
  2. ^ Rimmington, Don (December 1971). "A Birdless Summer. By Han Su-Yin. [London: Jonathan Cape, 1968. 347 pp. £1.75.] - Asia Today: Two Outlooks. By Han Su-Yin. [Montreal and London: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1969. 107 pp. $4.50.]". The China Quarterly. 48: 776–777. doi:10.1017/S0305741000009607. ISSN 1468-2648.