Each winter, we read a story together.
The 2025 Winter Read is Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang.
Four Treasures of the Sky is held at The Community Library—in print in English and Spanish, and digitally in eBook and eAudiobook. Come check out a copy!
Four Treasures of the Sky is also available with our partner libraries in Hailey, Bellevue, and Stanley.
Find Four Treasures of the Sky in all formats at The Community Library here.
About Four Treasures of the Sky
A dazzling debut novel set against the backdrop of the Chinese Exclusion Act, about a young Chinese woman fighting to claim her place in the 1880s American West.
Daiyu never wanted to be like the tragic heroine for whom she was named, revered for her beauty and cursed with heartbreak. But when she is kidnapped and smuggled across an ocean from China to America, Daiyu must relinquish the home and future she imagined for herself.
Over the years that follow, she is forced to keep reinventing herself to survive. From a calligraphy school in Zhifu, to a San Francisco brothel, to a shop tucked into the Idaho mountains, we follow Daiyu on a desperate quest to outrun the tragedy that chases her.
As anti-Chinese sentiment sweeps across the country in a wave of unimaginable violence, Daiyu must draw on each of the selves she has been―including the ones she most wants to leave behind―in order to finally claim her own name and story.
At once a literary tour de force and a groundbreaking work of historical fiction, Four Treasures of the Sky announces Jenny Tinghui Zhang as an indelible new voice in fiction. Steeped in untold history and Chinese folklore, this novel is a spellbinding feat.
We invite you to read Four Treasures of the Sky with us this winter. Check back soon for more details on programs throughout February 2025.
About the Author
Jenny Tinghui Zhang is a Chinese-American writer and author of the internationally bestselling novel Four Treasures of the Sky, which has been translated into 12 languages and short and longlisted for the Chautauqua Prize, the Dublin Literary Award, the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award.
Her work has appeared in The Cut, The New York Times, Texas Highways, and The Rumpus, among others. She is a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Honoree and has received support from Yaddo, Kundiman, VONA/Voices, Tin House, and the University of Wyoming, where she completed her MFA. Her second novel Superfan is forthcoming from Flatiron Books in 2026.
2025 Winter Read Events
Programs
January 30
Kickoff and Foyer Exhibit Opening. Join us a reception celebrating a new exhibit in the Library’s foyer on the Chinese history of the Wood River Valley. 5:30 p.m.
February 4
Ron James: Regional Chinese Immigrant Mining History. In person at the Stanley Community Library and on Zoom. 5:30 p.m. Learn more here.
February 7
Bitter Creek with Teow Lim Goh. An ode to the buried history of the 1885 Rock Springs Massacre in Wyoming where dozens of Chinese miners were murdered. 5:00 p.m.
February 18
The Light of a Hundred Fires. Dr. Renae Campbell, historical archaeologist and the Director of the University of Idaho’s Asian American Comparative Collection, shares the history of Chinese experiences in Idaho’s Gold Rush Era. 5:30 p.m.
February 27
Closing Keynote with author Jenny Tinghui Zhang. Book signing to follow. Limited seating, registration required. 5:30 p.m.
Exhibits
Details forthcoming!
Book Discussions
February 25 | 5:30 p.m. | Stanley Community Library + Zoom
More dates to be announced soon.
Winter Read Partners
Past Winter Reads
