Adventure, Love, and Betrayal: Local Author Releases Harrowing China Memoir

On July 17, author Anna Keibler released her first book, A Ghost in the Middle Kingdom. The riveting story follows a young American woman in China who falls in love with a charismatic yak herder, only to become entangled in a whirlwind of treachery, traps, and ultimately revenge.

At first glance, it may not seem like there’s anything particularly unusual about the above statement – after all, many novels explore international adventure, twisted romance, and betrayal. However, two distinctions set this book apart.

The first is that Anna Keibler is a southern Indiana native, born and raised in the remote countryside of Crawford County. She now lives in Borden, just across the county line.

The second is that A Ghost in the Middle Kingdom is not fiction. Anna Keibler is the woman in the story.

From Small-Town Roots to the Tibetan Plateau

“I grew up in Milltown, Indiana, out in the middle of nowhere,” Keibler recalled. “Couldn’t see the nearest neighbors… surrounded by both the outdoors and books. My mom worked at Hawley-Cooke Booksellers before they closed, so we had a literal library upstairs.”

A passion for reading eventually led her to the Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities, where she graduated in 2009. It was there she began studying Chinese, a decision that would change the trajectory of her life. A class trip to China left a lasting impression, and just two years later, while attending the University of Louisville, she spotted a flyer for a student exchange program.

She jumped at the opportunity, deliberately choosing the lesser-known city of Jinan. “With a population of only 7 million, it was considered a small city,” she said.

When she arrived in Jinan on February 11, 2011, it was a shock. “The China I saw as a tourist was nothing like the real China,” she said. “Electrical wires and pipes were all outside the walls of my dorm room, since the rooms were all made of concrete. The streets were littered with dust and trash. The pollution was choking.”

But over time, she came to love the city. “Sure, it was dirty, but the city was surrounded by beautiful low mountains, teeming with natural springs, and full of surprises,” she said. “The live music bar scene was full of folk artists and heavy metal bands, summers were filled with outdoor street barbecues open until 2 a.m., and during the Spring Festival, you could climb up onto the rooftops and see nothing but endless mortars of fireworks all throughout the city.”

She ended up staying in China for five years, studying the language, teaching English in public high schools and private training centers, and eventually moving to the west of the country, to Xining, on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.

There, Keibler married a Hui Muslim man and lived with his family. The couple had a daughter together, though they are now divorced. “The relationship is still very amicable,” Keibler said. “[Our daughter] will be going into the third grade this year!”

A Dark Chapter Finally Told

While many of Keibler’s experiences in China were filled with joy, culture, and wonder, A Ghost in the Middle Kingdom  focuses on something much darker. She calls it “my darkest China secret.”

“I fell in love with a psychopathic yak herder, bartered my passport, and experienced the most harrowing event of my life,” she said. “You’ll be shaking your head the whole time.”

She explained that the memoir dives deep into a romance that begins with warmth and idealism but descends into manipulation, abuse, and danger. As the story unfolds, Keibler finds herself isolated, vulnerable, and unsure whom to trust. “Not everything was wonderful all the time,” she said.

The emotional weight of the story made it difficult to write, especially in the immediate aftermath. “There really isn’t mental health care in China,” she explained. “I didn’t know how to process my experience.”

At the suggestion of a roommate, she began writing the events out step-by-step. “I got about halfway through before life pulled me away from the keyboard, and I was loathe to return, anyway,” she said.

Years passed. Then, in April 2024, something changed. “I decided that I’d done enough regretting, and that my story was worthy of being written,” Keibler said. She sat down and wrote with intensity. Within three weeks, the manuscript was finished.

A year later, her story is out in the world.

What Readers Can Expect

“I hope [readers] gain a sense of empathy, compassion, and understanding for the people around them,” Keibler said. “Some may walk away from this book hating me for my decisions, but I was a vulnerable human, as we all are. I also hope they walk away wanting to learn more about China.”

The memoir is already resonating with early readers, with a current 4.58 star rating on Goodreads. One reviewer calls it “a powerful testimony of the resilience of a woman scorned". Another notes that "the insights into the Hui culture and overall Chinese culture are fascinating.”

What’s Next

Keibler has no plans to stop writing. Her second book, That Time I Lived in China, is set to be published by Apprentice House Press in 2026. A collection of true short stories about expat life in Jinan, it balances the harrowing with the humorous.

“It includes everything from attempting to make mooncakes to escaping an attempted kidnapping, from Chinese hospital visits to Chinese online dating,” Keibler said. “I explore the real and raw parts of what living in the city was like from the foreign perspective.”

The release date isn’t set in stone, but she hopes to see it hit shelves on February 11, 2026 – exactly fifteen years to the day since her arrival in Jinan.

She also has other projects in the works. One is a portal fantasy featuring Sun Wukong, the legendary Monkey King from Chinese literature, which is currently under consideration by a Hong Kong publishing house. Another is a comedic horror novel loosely based on her own experiences in a psychiatric ward.

A Ghost in the Middle Kingdom is available now through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Ingram, and Target’s online store.

To follow Keibler’s work, visit her website at www.annakeibler.com. You can also connect with her on Instagram and Bluesky at @ackeibler, or on her Author Anna Keibler Facebook page.