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list price: $14.95
edition:Paperback
also available: eBook
category: Young Adult Fiction
published: Sep 2018
ISBN:9781459819672
publisher: Orca Book Publishers

The Third Act

by John Wilson, screenplay by Xiaoming Yao

tagged: college & university, asia
Description

The Third Act deals with the intercultural struggles faced by Chinese students studying in North America in the present day and by an American playwright, Neil Peterson, caught up in the Nanjing Massacre of 1937. The contemporary story focuses on three Chinese friends (Tone, Pike and Theresa) who grapple in their own ways with the pressure to succeed in an unfamiliar culture. The historical tale concerns Peterson's effort to find his literary voice and save the woman he loves amidst the chaos and horror of the fall of Nanjing in the Second Sino-Japanese War. The two stories are tied together by a play that Peterson attempted to write after his return to America. The students in the present day get caught up in putting on a performance of the missing third act of Peterson's play, and in doing so they are forced to confront their cultural and personal pasts and futures.

About the Authors

John Wilson

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, John Wilson grew up on the Isle of Skye and outside Glasgow, without the slightest idea that he would ever write books. After obtaining a degree in geology from the University of St. Andrews, he worked in Zimbabwe and Alberta before taking up writing full-time and moving to Vancouver Island in 1991. John is the author of numerous articles, essays, poems and reviews, and almost fifty novels and nonfiction books for kids, teens and adults. He was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for his novel The Alchemist's Dream, and his books have won or been shortlisted for many Canadian children's-literature prizes.


Xiaoming Yao

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, John Wilson grew up on the Isle of Skye and outside Glasgow, without the slightest idea that he would ever write books. After obtaining a degree in geology from the University of St. Andrews, he worked in Zimbabwe and Alberta before taking up writing full-time and moving to Vancouver Island in 1991. John is the author of numerous articles, essays, poems and reviews, and almost fifty novels and nonfiction books for kids, teens and adults. He was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for his novel The Alchemist's Dream, and his books have won or been shortlisted for many Canadian children's-literature prizes.

Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
Age:
12
Grade:
8 to 12
Reading age:
12
Editorial Reviews

&quotAbsorbing plot.&quot

— Kirkus Reviews

&quotThe plot moves briskly and suspensefully to a melodramatic climax. Readers interested in Chinese history and theater will find this novel engaging.&quot

— School Library Journal

"I recommend The Third Act to students who enjoy both historical fiction and mystery novels. The novel has a strong, well-developed female character in Theresa…Highly Recommended. "

— CM Magazine

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