The Gray Earth A Novel

This powerful, sweeping novel tells the story of a shepherd boy, Dshurukuwaa, from the Republic of Tuva. Torn between a deep interest in shamanism and pressure from his family to attend a state boarding school, the adolescent Dshurukuwaa attempts to mediate the pulls of spirituality and pragmatism, old ways and new.

Taken from his ancestral home, Dshurukuwaa reunites with his siblings at a boarding school, where his brother also serves as the principal. Soon he comes to understand that one of the school's main purposes is to strip the Tuvans of their language and traditions, and to make them conform to party ideals. Struggling to escape oppression by excelling in his studies, Dshurukuwaa and his family are soon at odds with the system, placing his brother in danger. When tragedy strikes, Dshurukuwaa begins to sense the larger import of his visions, and with it a way to honor his native identity and heritage. Rooted in the oral traditions of the Tuvan people and their epics, Galsan Tchinag weaves the timeless tale of a boy poised on the cusp of manhood with the story of a people on the threshold of modernity.