Start reading Trials of Life (Journey to the West) on your Kindle in under a minute. Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

 
 
 

Try it free

Sample the beginning of this book for free

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

Read books on your computer or other mobile devices with our FREE Kindle Reading Apps.
Trials of Life (Journey to the West)
 
 
Share your own customer images

Trials of Life (Journey to the West) [Kindle Edition]

Junying Kirk (Author), John Kirk (Editor), Yongqun Guo (Illustrator)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review) |
Digital List Price: £1.92 What's this?
Kindle Price: £1.92 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
Unlike print books, digital books are subject to VAT.

Product Description

Product Description

This novel is sequel to The Same Moon, and we follow Pearl in her journey and pursuit in personal and professional fulfilment. The story is told in different voices, painting a full picture of Pearl's new life in the UK, Will she find love or will she be confronted with more trials and tribulations?

Pearl meets Andrew Church, the man of her dreams and then gets a job at a UK university. Perfect or is it not so? Her senior colleague Dick Appleton does not welcome her, and when he discovers that Pearl has a secret mission, he grabs the opportunity. Having had a privileged upbringing, gone to the world-famous institution Oxford, and enjoying a wonderful lifestyle, Dick would not allow anyone, let alone Pearl, to stand in his way.
 
While Dick fights to protect his reputation and standing, Pearl seeks justice. How can she battle against the powerful machine behind the big men? Would reality teach Pearl a lesson that there is no perfect justice in this world? Or does the ancient Chinese belief hold true that everything happens for a reason? Is it fate or simply the trials of life?

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 531 KB
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language English
  • ASIN: B004XW30RQ
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #251,673 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    •  Would you like to give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Junying Kirk
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Junying Kirk Page

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(1)
Agree with these tags?
See all 15 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Customer Reviews

5 star
0
3 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
0
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By A. Tran
Format:Kindle Edition
*If you enjoy the first book you will be in for a treat with the second book (Trials of life). The second novel is brilliant on its own but is best appreciated after reading the first one (just like the Hobbit and Lord of the rings). Trials of life is beautifully written, I absolutely love the writing style (won't spoil you on how it is written). At times my eyes well up at such intense emotions seeping through the page, I was gripped from the first page and cannot put the kindle down all weekend. Once again Junying has proved that one does not have to have a printed book to be considered a good writer, a very good one indeed. I can't wait for the next novel to come out.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:  3 reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Ms. Kirk characters - Will stick with you for a long time. 11 Jan 2012
By VConsidine - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
The Joker in the "Dark Knight". Dr Hannibal Lecter in "Red Dragon, The Judge from Blood Meridian. Ms. Kirk creation, description and actions of Dr. Richard Appleton will tremor your spine.

"Trials of Life" is the second book in the Journey to the West series. The series main character Pearl, married, content and living in the UK. Pearl's happiness is quickly erased when she finds out about the death of Dr. Richard Appleton and this revelation brings back painful memories of her difficult journey. This when the book makes an imprint and were Ms.Kirk injects the vile Dr. Appleton into the reader's conscious.

The book is well written and subjective

Ms. Kirk is a character creative monster and that is something you can't teach. Five stars

The reason why my overall rating is four stars - I wanted more from Pearl.

Enjoyed it very much.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Life after China 3 Nov 2011
By Vered Ehsani - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition
`Trials of Life' picks up sometime after `The Same Moon' ends. We find that Pearl has established herself in the UK, and is happily married. Then she reads a news article about the death of Dr Richard Appleton, and her thoughts are flung into turmoil. She begins to reflect on the difficulties she went through to get where she currently is; some of them are pretty intense and include Richard.

This novel is a bit different from `The Same Moon', which provides fascinating insights into China of the `70s and `80s, through the experiences of Pearl in China and then in the UK as a new immigrant. There is more a focus on the interactions between the various characters. The writing style is still personal and slightly unstructured, the way a diary is, one thought leading to another. I can definitely see an improvement in the editing as well as smoother transitions between scenes and sections, although there is still room for improvement.

The part of the book that I liked best was when Pearl was in the midst of her experiences with Richard. There was an intensity and breathlessness to the narrative that was engaging. Pearl's uncertainty about the truth of Richard's story and the fear it generated could have been drawn out more and should have been used to propel the plot forward. Instead, it was left there, an untapped source of potential. Once the point of view shifted to the other characters, I felt the book lost some of that momentum. I would suggest to the writer that she focus on that section with Pearl and see how she can capture that same energy in future stories.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
2nd book in Journey to the West series - great series! 27 Aug 2011
By K. Sozaeva - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Kindle Edition
"Trials of Life" is the second book in the Journey to the West trilogy by author Junyung Kirk. Like the first book - The Same Moon - this is not the type of book I would normally read, but Ms. Kirk asked me if I would be so kind as to read and provide reviews for her books and I was happy to do so.

"Trials of Life" was a much more difficult book than the first book in the series. While "The Same Moon" is focused on Pearl's point-of-view exclusively, this book changes point of view frequently and without notice, which made it a bit difficult to follow who was "talking" to the reader. (Note: At author's request I provided editing to this book and the copy you get will hopefully have had this done - we have added information to make it easier to tell who is "speaking" at any given time) Also, the bulk of the book has to do with a truly despicable person named Dick Appleton, and having to spend so much time in his head made me want to scrub my skin with pumice and then pour lye into my eyes - he was really awful. Of course, the mere fact that Ms. Kirk was able to provoke such an extreme reaction in me shows that she knows exactly how to create a character that is sure to stick in the mind of the reader. While there are some issues with grammar and proper sentence structure, overall the writing style is excellent and I was duly impressed. (Note: Hopefully I have helped Ms. Kirk fix this, too) The main reason I marked off to only 4 stars was due to the voice confusion. (Note: I hope my changes will allow you to give it 5 stars!)

Overall I've found myself increasingly intrigued by both China and Scotland as a result of these books and would love to travel to both countries and have a chance to experience their cultures myself. I can recommend this book for those who enjoy a story about rising above and overcoming adversity - if that is you, definitely check it out.
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject





i.e., each title must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. GB Privacy Statement Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. GB Delivery Information Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. GB Returns & Exchanges