CITY OF FICTION

Engrossing.a terrifically entertaining novel.--Irish TimesIn the early 20th century China is a land undergoing a momentous social and cultural shift with a thousand-year-old empire crumbling and the nation on the brink of modernity. Against this backdrop a quiet man from the North embarks on a perilous journey to a Southern city in the grip of a savage snowstorm. He carries with him a newborn baby: he is looking for the childs mother and a city that isnt there.This is a story of two people: a man who finds unexpected success after having journeyed to the hometown of the woman who abandoned him; and the woman he is searching for who mysteriously disappeared to embark on her own eventful journey. This is a story about vanished crafts and ancient customs about violence love and friendship. Above all its a story about change and about storytelling itself full of vivid characters and surprising twistsan epic tale as inexorable as time itself and as gripping as a classic adventure story.