The novel's protagonist, Wang Jun, is a Beijing taxi driver; hardly a glamorous job but one that provides sufficient income to support his wife and daughter in relative comfort, and is in its own small way an act of rebellion against his domineering father.
Then somebody claiming to have been Wang's soul mate throughout multiple reincarnations sends a letter seeking to re-establish their relationship.
Further letters follow detailing their supposed previous lives together, each of which ends in violence, and although Wang doesn't believe the stories, somebody is certainly trying to destroy his marriage.
He suspects a friend from a shameful period of his youth who has suddenly reappeared in the city after years of absence and the novel shifts backwards and forwards in time between the historical interludes detailed in the letters, Wang's own past, and his attempts to identify and stop his mysterious correspondent before he or his family is hurt.
Barker (who herself has Chinese ancestry) spent several years in Beijing researching this novel, and although her writing lacks the heft of authors such as Ha Jin or Xinran, it provides a glimpse of China and its long and complex history that is readily accessible to Western readers.
She cites Haruki Murakami, Kazou Ishiguro and David Mitchell as major influences, and there are echoes of all three in The Incarnations, although in theme and structure it reminded me most of Kim Stanley Robinson's Years of Rice and Salt.
While I wouldn't put her in quite the same league as these literary heavyweights, and there were a few jarring notes in the novel that I found disconcerting, it is an enjoyable light read that is likely to appeal to a wide audience.
• Cushla McKinney is a Dunedin scientist.
