I wanted to read more slowly to absorb the amazing subtleties....but my hand kept compulsively turning the pages! The best book I read in a year.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

Set during Mao's re-education era, this polished jewel of a novel is a profound and humbling reminder of how quickly all that we take for granted can be lost... yet also asks: is anything fully lost? and contemplates the power of literature beside our own human courage and frailty.  -- Jackie