Cover of Gold Mountain Blues. [Photo provided to China Daily]

She was over 40 when her debut work was published. After graduating from Fudan University as an English major in 1983, the Wenzhou native became a translator, and moved to Canada for a higher degree in 1986. She obtained an MA in English at the University of Calgary, and later in communication disorders at the University of Cincinnati.

But the allure of the written word was always present. Zhang picked up her childhood dream in the 1990s when she began writing stories.

"I usually get the inspirations for the beginnings of my writing from trivial moments that nonetheless touched me," she said.

Gold Mountain Blues is triggered by one particular scene that Zhang witnessed. Moss covered, nameless tombstones, scattered on the outskirts of Calgary. After more than two years of intense research, Zhang finished a story spanning five generations, from the late 19th century, focusing on the Chinese laborers from the villages of southern China who went to the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains, searching for gold.

Birth Throes takes the experience of Zhang's mother's family, and is inspired by one of her aunt's difficult birth against a backdrop of armed conflict during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).

Her sparkles of inspiration are always based on a foundation of meticulous research. She draws up a family tree for the many characters in her novels and makes sure the language evokes a place. She travels to experience the wind, land, vegetation and buildings to give the reader a real feel of how geography can shape our destiny.