Balzac and the Little Chinese SeamstressAn enchanting literary debut—already an international best-seller. At the height of Mao’s infamous Cultural Revolution, two boys are among hundreds of thousands exiled to the countryside for “re-education.” The narrator and his best friend, Luo, guilty of being the sons of doctors, find themselves in a remote village where, among the peasants of Phoenix mountain, they are made to cart buckets of excrement up and down precipitous winding paths. Their meager distractions include a violin—as well as, before long, the beautiful daughter of the local tailor. But it is when the two discover a hidden stash of Western classics in Chinese translation that their re-education takes its most surprising turn. While ingeniously concealing their forbidden treasure, the boys find transit to worlds they had thought lost forever. And after listening to their dangerously seductive retellings of Balzac, even the Little Seamstress will be forever transformed. From within the hopelessness and terror of one of the darkest passages in human history, Dai Sijie has fashioned a beguiling and unexpected story about the resilience of the human spirit, the wonder of romantic awakening and the magical power of storytelling. |
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asked Luo Balzac bamboo hod blood buffalo butterfly stroke cauldron centimetres Chengdu 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 novel oil lamp old miller old tailor once path peasants Phoenix mountain poetess re-education Red Guards red-beaked raven replied rice ridge rock Romain Rolland secret agent seemed sewing machine shoes shouted silence smoke songs sorceresses sound stone story Suddenly suitcase sweet potato tell thought told took tooth treadle tree trousers turned village headman violin voice wait woman word Yong Jing young