Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress: A NovelNew York Times Bestseller Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is an enchanting tale that captures the magic of reading and the wonder of romantic awakening. An immediate international bestseller, it tells the story of two hapless city boys exiled to a remote mountain village for re-education during China’s infamous Cultural Revolution. There the two friends meet the daughter of the local tailor and discover a hidden stash of Western classics in Chinese translation. As they flirt with the seamstress and secretly devour these banned works, the two friends find transit from their grim surroundings to worlds they never imagined. |
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asked Luo Balzac bamboo hod blood buffalo cauldron centimetres Chengdu Chinese cigarette clock Dai Sijie dark dentist door dream eyes face feet fell felt film fingers foot Four-Eyes Four-Eyes's Fu Lei girl ground hair hands head headman hear heard hospital house on stilts inside jacket key ring leaves Little Seamstress look Luo's father maize Mao jacket Mao's metres morning mother mouth needle never night oil lamp old miller old tailor once path peasants Phoenix mountain poetess re-education Red Guards red-beaked raven rice rock Romain Rolland romantic realism secret agent seemed sewing machine shoes shouted silence slipped smell smoke songs sorceresses sound stone story Suddenly suitcase sweet potato tell told took tooth treadle tree trousers turned village headman violin voice wait woman word Yong Jing young