Retribution opens with the raucous festivities surrounding the annual procession to honor the Bodhisattva Guanyin. Changsheng, the young wife of the local coffin maker Liu Laoshi, is raped while making an offering to Guanyin in the hope of increasing her chances of bearing a son. Changsheng hangs herself following the encounter, and Liu Laoshi exacts bloody vengeance on the rapist's own wife and favorite prostitute. This act of sexual violence and its retribution provide the narrative pivot around which is woven a web of interconnecting stories, whose characters and events provide divergent perspectives on the rape and its aftermath. The result is an unforgettable exploration of the intersections of sexual desire, sadism, folk belief, and the inexorable cycles of karmic retribution.

李永平

1947年生于英属婆罗洲沙捞越邦古晋市。台湾大学外文系毕业后，留系担任助教，并任《中外文学》杂志执行编辑。后赴美深造，获美国纽约州立大学比较文学硕士、圣路易华盛顿大学比较文学博士。曾先后任教台湾中山大学、东吴大学、东华大学。

著有《婆罗洲之子》《拉子妇》《吉陵春秋》《海东青：台北的一则寓言》《朱鸰漫游仙境》《雨雪霏霏：婆罗洲童年记事》《大河尽头》，并有译作《大河湾》《幽黯国度》《纸牌的秘密》《道德剧》《尽得其妙：如何读西方正典》《布鲁克林的纳善先生》等。

《吉陵春秋》入选“二十世纪中文小说一百强”，英译本于2003年由美国哥伦比亚大学出版社出版。《大河尽头》上、下卷分别入选2008、2010 《亚洲周刊》十大华文小说，并荣获第三届“红楼梦奖：世界华文长篇小说奖”决审团奖。其他作品曾获时报文学推荐奖、联合报小说奖、联合报读书人年度最佳书奖等奖项。