The Winding Dirt Road

Today, I’m delighted to host The Winding Dirt Road by Jiu Da

The book is on a blog tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club:

https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/07/blog-tour-the-winding-dirt-road-by-jiu-da.html

About the Book

Written as an antithesis to all first-hand and second-hand propaganda written by both Chinese and foreign writers for China in the good part of the 20th century in a fictional form, this collection, through different times and lands, gives insights into how human docile nature and characteristics are manipulated and brought about cultural and social corrosion over the century.

The outcome thus sees “a monumental loss breathtakingly massive than any period that preceded it.” Subsequently, it foreshadows a system that “would bring out not the best but the worst in people, against people, any people.” (Event Horizon)

The first story is written as an introduction in addition to the prologue. From there, the collection proceeds with interrelated subjects or topics, building up causes and factors. At every turn, it gathers momentum and convenes halfway through the book to form the major components of critical perspectives at a juncture.

Hoarded in the depth of memories of the past decades, this has been a work long overdue.

Review

“Each page of The Winding Dirt Road carries weight. Jiu Da doesn’t just tell stories, but rather dissects ideologies and systems with precision. The way the stories build toward each other is quietly brilliant, and the emotional gravity keeps increasing as you go. If you care about literature that stands up to power, this belongs on your shelf.”

Buy Links

Universal Buy Link: https://geni.us/VwB3xZ

The Book Details

Book Title: The Winding Dirt Road

Series: n/a

Author: Jiu Da

Publication Date: May 2025

Publisher: Historium Press

Pages: 391

Genre: Historical Fiction

Any Triggers: n/a

Excerpt

“[The follower] stated that what made a club function depended not entirely on its thick end but on the shaft that formed the handle. This nation’s tasks or ideology was the main element that formed the thick end, but it would need the handle to wield that power effectively. It required bruteness, loudness, and grip to make the club applicable.”

~ Ashes Of Aggravation

About the Author

Jui Da

For years, Jiu Da has been intrigued by the question of whether the environment makes us who we are or whether we are the ones that shape our environment.

For the good parts of early years, he stubbornly believed that motivation, talent, and effort could change the outcomes. It did not.

It was not until the virus hit while finding himself perching at home that he came to accept that the environment is indeed the hand that shapes human behavior.

It was during this time that he began his first work, drawing from his love in literature, history and a lifetime of seemingly useless yet fascinating knowledge hoarded in the depth of his mind.