Peacock Gall
Wu WeiChina Democracy and Legal System Publishing House2010
No rating yet- Chapters
- 1
- Series
- Peacock Gall
- ISBN
- 9787802196926
Tags
Featured Fiction Mystery and Suspense True HistoryPolitical IntriguePsychological InsightSuspense NovelTextual ResearchLiterary CompilationYuan DynastyYunnan CustomsSummary
In the final years of the Yuan dynasty, rival forces rose across the land, with Zhu Yuanzhang's power the strongest in the Central Plains. To cope with the crisis, the Prince of Liang in Yunnan and the Duan clan of Dali, long at odds, had to join forces temporarily to resist the enemy together. After Duan Gong, the administrator of Dali, marries the Prince of Liang's daughter, Princess Yabuluhua, he expects to secure a period of peace, but strange cases follow one after another: anomalies repeatedly appear in the city, bloodshed inexplicably attaches itself to Duan Gong and his wife, and even the peacock gall, regarded as the deadliest poison in the world, is stolen. A bottle of poison and a baffling case gradually breed suspicion between Duan Gong and the Prince of Liang, Boluo, while the princess, caught between her father and her husband, is drawn into the vortex and cannot protect herself. This book is a full-length historical mystery novel in Wu Wei's "Chronicles of Great Cases in Ancient China" series. Set against the political maneuvering in Yunnan at the end of the Yuan dynasty, it weaves real historical figures together with fictional cases, advancing layer by layer through the tensions of power, family and love. The author's research is meticulous, and the book includes a chronological table of major events in Peacock Gall and a collection of related poetry and prose, recreating the atmosphere of Yunnan's landscapes and the turmoil of the late Yuan. The book, together with Han Xizai's Night Banquet from the same series, was submitted for the 8th Mao Dun Literature Prize.Editor's review
吴蔚“中国古代大案探奇录”系列一向以“历史为骨、悬疑为肉”见长，《孔雀胆》是其中口碑颇为扎实的一部。它选了一个多数历史小说很少触碰的切口——元末的云南：中原红巾军逐鹿，西南边地的梁王与大理段氏却在旧怨与共敌之间进退两难。作者把史书里寥寥几笔的段功、押不芦花公主、梁王孛罗写成有血有肉的人，让政治联姻、翁婿猜忌与一瓶孔雀胆的毒案彼此咬合，悬念一路推到结尾。书中还附录大事编年与滇中诗文辑录，看得出作者在故纸堆里下的功夫。如果你喜欢在故事里顺带读懂一段乱世，又偏爱层层反转的探案节奏，这本值得一读。Who it's for
A good fit for
- 喜欢历史背景厚重的悬疑探案小说的读者
- 对元末明初、云南地方史感兴趣的读者
- 偏爱政治博弈与家族恩怨交织叙事的读者
- 想通过小说了解大理、滇池一带风物的旅行爱好者
Not a good fit for
- 追求纯粹本格推理、谜题至上的读者
- 偏好轻松快节奏、篇幅短小读物的读者
- 对历史虚构与真实人物混写较敏感的读者
Reading tips
- 可先读附录的大事编年，理清元末云南各方势力，再读正文会更顺畅
- 留意段功、梁王、公主三人关系的变化，这是全书悬念的核心
- 读完不妨对照《孔雀胆》真实史事，看看作者在哪些地方做了合理虚构
About the publisher
China Democracy and Legal System Publishing House China · Founded in 1989China Democracy and Legal System Publishing House focuses on professional legal publishing. Its output covers working materials for state organs of power, compilations of laws and regulations, legal popularization readers for the public, law textbooks and documentation on people's congress work, with law, politics and social sciences as common categories. Representative titles in the catalog include the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and the Ecological Environment Code of the People's Republic of China, alongside practice- and research-oriented works such as Legislators Explaining the Law: Li Yuan's Reports on Legal Interpretation and On Record Review and Constitutional Review. Its authors include Li Yuan, Qin Qianhong, the General Office of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and editorial teams. The press emphasizes accuracy in legal texts and the organization of practical people's congress materials, while also serving public legal education.
Contents
- Chronicles of Great Cases in Ancient China
FAQ
《孔雀胆》属于哪个系列，是单独一本吗？
它属于吴蔚的“中国古代大案探奇录”系列，与《大唐游侠》《鱼玄机》《韩熙载夜宴》《璇玑图》等同属一套，但每本情节独立，可以单独阅读，不必按顺序。这本书有哪几个版本？
初版于2010年由中国民主法制出版社出版，ISBN为9787802196926；2018年推出第二版，ISBN为978-7-5162-1757-3。此外台湾好读出版社也出过新版。本页以2010年初版信息为准。没读过这个系列的其他书，会影响理解吗？
不会。系列各书时代与人物并不相连，共用的只是“以真实历史悬案为底”的写法。直接读《孔雀胆》即可进入元末云南的故事。“孔雀胆”是指真的毒药吗？
孔雀胆在古籍与民间传说中常被视为剧毒之物，书名与故事中的毒案正由此而来。小说围绕这一毒物的失窃与猜忌展开，具体情节需读原书。This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.
About the author
Wu Wei Author · ChineseWu Wei is a contemporary Chinese writer. A woman whose ancestral home is Hubei, she graduated from Beijing Institute of Technology and once worked in the IT industry before turning to writing. Fond of literature and history, she describes herself as "making a living among old papers," and her works are largely drawn from ancient Chinese history and celebrated legal cases, spanning documentary literature, biography, historical reading, and social fiction; 33 of her works are held in the collection. She has created series such as "Explorations of Great Cases in Ancient China" and "Great Histories of the Han, Tang, Song, and Ming," with representative works including An Cang Sha Ji, Snow Fills the Bow (Parts 1 and 2), Xuanji Tu, Yuchang Sword, The Ganlu Incident (Parts 1 and 2), and Bao Qingtian. She has also participated in the screenwriting of several television dramas. Her writing emphasizes the organization of historical sources and the development of plot, blending suspense and detective elements into popular historical narrative. Because public information is limited, details of her life remain unclear.