Long talk and many nights

No matter where you are, go through the time tunnel

Can you still dream of resurrecting the city where I raised you?

◎ Recommended by Chen Guoqiu, Gong Wanhui, Tang Rui and Huang Yuxuan

◎ The first full-length novel about public housing estates in Hong Kong

In an era when we are tired of saying goodbye, people can leave, buildings can be abandoned, food can be lost, buses can be suspended... Memories are like the ship of Theseus, which has been demolished and rebuilt with the development of the city. When you dream back at midnight, what still makes you remember are the stories with you in them?

"Later, Linda went alone to the rooftop of Good House to watch the Mid-Autumn Festival night scene. This time Linda looked down at the square patio. Residents on multiple floors hung colorful lanterns in the corridor, and another set of lanterns was hung diagonally by the corridor railings. In the middle of the courtyard. Therefore, everyone suddenly lost their guard against the dirty bottom of the well and set off sky lanterns there.

Praying for blessings, the sky lanterns flickered on and off, rising slowly and causing excitement among the residents. Words were written on all sides of the sky lanterns: eternal friendship, academic progress, good health, wishes come true, and peace is a blessing. ──〈Final Chapter: The Seven Seas Incident〉

"Long Talk" is the first novel by Hong Kong writer Mak Shu-kin. The story revolves around the small shop "Xi Xi Office" in the public housing estate "Kuao Estate". It is a must-have place for selling residents' daily necessities. The intertwined life trajectories of grassroots citizens. The twists and turns of the owner Su Gan's family reflect the rise and fall of public housing estates and cities. Anyone who has ever stayed in a housing estate will be familiar with the stationery shop, mushroom pavilion, family doctor clinic, etc. in the novel; thousands of families during the Mid-Autumn Festival Candlelights, the rainy scene on the patio during the windy season, and even the neighborhood K-carnival have all become unforgettable sights; the dark stair corners, hidden birdhouses, and elevators always seem to swallow people up.

Public housing estates are an important urban space in Hong Kong, and the daily experiences and details written in the novel are full of local characteristics; however, in addition to the realistic life of ordinary people, mysterious and strange legends are also passed down orally through close neighborhood relationships. The Gu'ao Village described by Mai Shujian is a mixture of fiction and reality, where citizens' lives are wonderfully intertwined with prehistoric monsters, but the ending leads to a distant and confusing future. Looking back from the other side of time and space, is this lifelike housing estate, the days of hard work and love and hate of the people real, or is it just like the rhinoceros in ancient mythology, just a fantasy fabricated by someone out of thin air?

Perhaps one day, people who have read this book will say this──

A long time ago, that estate was not just buildings and roads, it was a place where we lived together.

This book is the first novel by Hong Kong writer Mak Shu-kin. It is also the first full-length novel in Hong Kong based on public housing estates. It is full of local characteristics.