num_pages: 5
description: An 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.From the Hardcover edition.
language: English
title: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
titlecomplete: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
genres: Historical, Asian Literature, Books About Books, Literature, Classics, Novels, Asia, Historical Fiction, Fiction, China
ratings_count: 62835
places: China
awards: awardedAt: 1009872000000
name: Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
category: Shortlist, awardedAt: 1420099200000
name: Premio letterario Giuseppe Acerbi, awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Prix des libraires du Québec
category: Lauréats hors Québec, awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Prix Relay du Roman d'Evasion, awardedAt: 1009872000000
name: Scott Moncrieff Prize
category: Ina Rilke, awardedAt: 978336000000
name: Premi Llibreter de narrativa, awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Dublin Literary Award
publisher: Random House Audio