A sympathetic prostitute befriends Chun, but two years later, at the height of a plague quarantine, Chun is thrust into a bewildering new world. A young Methodist woman rescues her and places her in a Home for abused and trafficked girls. The Home is destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire, but Chun (aka "Maud") survives. In an attempt to raise funds to rebuild the Home, Maud and a group of seven other Chinese children embark on a six-month cross-country singing tour. Performing for President Theodore Roosevelt in the White House is the highlight of the journey, but when the matron of the Home suffers a breakdown, thirteen year-old Maud must find within herself the strength and resolve to lead the band of children home. The novel is based on events in the life of the author's wife's grandmother.

    But it's also the year that China's leader, Mao Ze-dong, launches the Cultural Revolution—and Ji-li's world begins to fall apart. Over the next few years, people who were once her friends and neighbors turn on her and her family, forcing them to live in constant terror of arrest. And when Ji-li's father is finally imprisoned, she faces the most difficult dilemma of her life.

    Dinh's gift is for constructing, in the manner of Italo Calvino, simple narratives that quickly frame larger questions; with a poet's timing, the author builds his stories to the one or few climactic sentences that brand them with unforgettable meaning. In one tale, a Vietnamese boy's self-guided, haphazard study of English gives way to a meditation on the universality of language: Everything seems chaotic at first, but nothing is chaotic. One can read anything: ants crawling on the ground; pimples on a face; trees in a forest. In another story, a man opens a newspaper and sees the photograph of a man he may have murdered, which he impulsively clips, only to feel that in doing so he unwittingly has sealed his crime: As soon as I finished, I realized what I had done: by cutting my father's likeness out of the newspaper, I had removed him from the world. The collection crescendoes in displays of raw creative power, as in Eight Plots, a rapid-fire of three- and four-sentence summaries, and the brilliant, impressionistic !Blood and Soap is an arresting collection from one of a small number of writers on the vanguard of American fiction.

    Rich heir, Song Nanchuan, appears elegant and disciplined, but is the kind who just takes kisses without a word!…Madness!

    THE 'MUST-HAVE' COMPLETE COLLECTIONIn this irresistible, 'must-have' collection you get ALL the Legendary Ancient Writers, AND get ALL their plays, books and works at the same time. But that is not all..MULTIPLE TRANSLATIONSIn addition, you will also get 2 other important benefits:*Multiple translations of many of the works, covering their translation into Rhyming Verse, Blank Verse and Prose.*In-Depth Footnotes, Introductions and Explanations.INCLUDED WORKS: WORKS OF HOMER:THE ILIAD*ALEXANDER POPE TRANSLATION - Verse*SAMUEL BUTLER TRANSLATION - Prose*EARL OF DERBY TRANSLATION - Verse*LANG, LEAF, MYERS TRANSLATION - Prose*WILLIAM COWPER TRANSLATION - Blank VerseTHE ODYSSEY*ALEXANDER POPE TRANSLATION - Verse*SAMUEL BUTLER TRANSLATION - Prose*LANG, BUTCHER TRANSLATION - Prose*WILLIAM COWPER TRANSLATION - Blank VerseWORKS OF OVID:*HEORIDES *ARS AMORICA, AMORES (The Love Poems)*METAMORPHOSESWORKS OF SOPHOCLESTHE OEDIPUS TRILOGY:*ANTIGONE*KING OEDIPUS*OEDIPUS AT COLONOS*AIAS*ELECTRA*THE TRACHINIAN MAIDENS*PHILOCTETESWORKS OF VIRGIL*THE AENEID - Prose*THE AENEID - Verse*ECOLOGUES*GEORGICSWORKS OF APOLLONIUS*ARGONAUTICA (JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS,THE GOLDEN FLEECE)WORKS OF QUINTUS*POSTHOMERICAWORKS OF HESIOD*WORK AND DAYS*THEOGONY*HOMERICA AND HYMNS(including many rarities such as 'Contest between Hesiod and Homer' and 'The Small Iliad')WORKS OF EURIPIDES*ANDROMACHE*RHESUS*HECUBA*ION*HERACLES*HERACLIEDAE*HELEN*ELECTRA*CYCLOPS*ALCESTIS*ORESTES*PHOENISSAE*MEDEA*HIPPOLYTUS*BACCHAE*IPHIGENIA IN AULIDE*IPHIGENIA IN TAURIS*TROJAN WOMENWORKS OF APULEIUS*THE GOLDEN ASS*APOLOGIA (A DISCOURSE IN MAGIC)WORKS OF APOLLODORUS*LIBRARYWORKS OF AESOP*COMPLETE FABLESWORKS OF AESCHYLUS*PERSIANS*PROMETHEUS BOUND*SEVEN AGAINST THEBES*SUPPLIANTS*AGAMEMNON*LIBATION BEARERS*EUMENIDES*CHOEPORIWORKS OF ARISTOPHANES*THE ELEVEN COMEDIESYOUR ENVIABLE COLLECTIONImagine the joy of having this exclusive collection, which rivals many libraries, at your fingertips. Imagine the incredible pleasure of reading these nuggets of literature gold, discovering inspiration in the kind of fantastic, mythological tales you love.PLUS YOU GET FREE BONUSES:*Biographies of each of the Writers - Details of their colorful histories, intriguing personal lives and remarkable adventures in the ancient world.*Easy to navigate 'Table of Contents' - jump between works and between chapters in each work easily.

    Beijing, sometime in the near future: a month has gone missing from official records. No one has any memory of it, and no one can care less. Except for a small circle of friends, who will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of the sinister cheerfulness and amnesia that has possessed the Chinese nation. When they kidnap a high-ranking official and force him to reveal all, what they learn - not only about their leaders, but also about their own people - stuns them to the core. It is a message that will rock the world... Terrifying methods of cunning, deception and terror are unveiled by the truth-seekers in this thriller-expose of the Communist Party's stranglehold on China today.'An all-encompassing metaphor for today's looming superpower' OBSERVER

    The time is the early 1970s when the two giants were poised on the brink of war. And the characters in this thrilling collection of stories are Chinese soldiers who must constantly scrutinize the enemy even as they themselves are watched for signs of the fatal disease of bourgeois liberalism.In Ocean of Words, the Chinese writer Ha Jin explores the predicament of these simple, barely literate men with breathtaking concision and humanity. From amorous telegraphers to a pugnacious militiaman, from an inscrutable Russian prisoner to an effeminate but enthusiastic recruit, Ha Jin's characters possess a depth and liveliness that suggest Isaac Babel's Cossacks and Tim O'Brien's GIs. Ocean of Words is a triumphant volume, poignant, hilarious, and harrowing."A compelling collection of stories, powerful in their unity of theme and rich in their diversity of styles."--New York Times Book Review"Extraordinary...[These stories are shot through with wit and offer glimpses of human motivation that defy retelling...Read them all."--Boston Globe"An exceptional new talent, capable of wringing rich surprises out of austere materials."--Portland Oregonian

    One glimpse of her through a window as she put on lipstick was enough to capture Rao's heart, the moment that sparked a union that would last almost sixty years. Our Story is that epic romance told through his paintings and accompanying text. We see Pingru and Meitang through the decades, in both poverty and good fortune--looking for work, opening a restaurant, moving cities, mending shoes, raising their children, and being separated for seventeen years by the government when Pingru is sent to a labor camp. As they age, China undergoes extraordinary growth, political turmoil, and cultural change. When Meitang passes away in 2008, Pingru memorializes his wife and their relationship the only way he knows how: through painting. In an outpouring of love and grief, he puts it all on paper. It's a tale at once tragic and inspiring, of enduring love and simple values, an old-fashioned story that unfolds in a nation rapidly becoming modern. Spanning 1923 to 2008, Our Story is a truly singular graphic memoir.

    Reading and Writing Chinese has been the leading text for foreign students and teachers of the Chinese writing system since it was first published in 1978. This completely revised edition draws on the lessons learnt from the use of the book in classrooms so as to provide a more convenient and up–to–date introduction to the Chinese writing system. Over 1,100 new combinations of characters have been added, increasing the total vocabulary significantly to about 4,500 items. There are also new notes on usage to give students insight into the contemporary state of the language. The student's ability to read Chinese and write Chinese are reinforced throughout. For each of the basic 1,062 characters, the pronunciation, definition and derivation are given, with examples of the use of most words and a chart showing how to write each character. Memorization tips and cautionary cross–reference to look–alike characters are also provided, as well as notes to help clarify those overlooked aspects of the Chinese writing system. Key features of this book:-The Student's 1,020 List.-The Official 2,000 List.-Over 2,000 characters and 2,500 combinations.-Definitions and explanations. Standard Hanyu Pinyin romanization.-Memorization hints and stroke–order diagrams.-Hong Kong/Taiwan and China/Singapore forms.-Traditional and modern radical systems.

    Unfortunately for Tokyo, however, Akechi Kogoro is off on overseas business, so it becomes the job of his 12-year old assistant, Kobayashi Yoshio, to track down the thief and desperately keep him at bay until his mentor returns.In the spirit of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Baker Street Irregulars, a classic thriller by Edogawa Rampo, grand master of Japan's Golden Age of crime and mystery fiction. Filled with disguises, tricks, "A-ha!" moments, and spiced with a unique Japanese flair, it is sure to delight readers of all ages. Will Kobayashi's intrepid band of young detectives be able to outwit the nefarious fiend, or will Tokyo be forever at the mercy of the face-swapping phantom?

    In this rich, astonishing collection, Yiyun Li illuminates how mythology, politics, history, and culture intersect with personality to create fate. From the bustling heart of Beijing, to a fast-food restaurant in Chicago, to the barren expanse of Inner Mongolia, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers reveals worlds both foreign and familiar, with heartbreaking honesty and in beautiful prose.“Immortality,” winner of The Paris Review’s Plimpton Prize for new writers, tells the story of a young man who bears a striking resemblance to a dictator and so finds a calling to immortality. In “The Princess of Nebraska,” a man and a woman who were both in love with a young actor in China meet again in America and try to reconcile the lost love with their new lives. “After a Life” illuminates the vagaries of marriage, parenthood, and gender, unfolding the story of a couple who keep a daughter hidden from the world. And in “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers,” in which a man visits America for the first time to see his recently divorced daughter, only to discover that all is not as it seems, Li boldly explores the effects of communism on language, faith, and an entire people, underlining transformation in its many meanings and incarnations.These and other daring stories form a mesmerizing tapestry of revelatory fiction by an unforgettable writer.From the Hardcover edition.

    The first, Thomas, is an entitled deadbeat, content to pass the rest of his days in Asia skating by on the fact that he's white, while the second, a recent college graduate named Daniel, is an idealist at heart. Over the course of the novel, these two characters fight to establish primacy in Ningyuan, a remote town in the south of Hunan, with one of their more overzealous students, Bella, caught in between. Quincy Carroll's cleverly written debut novel examines what we bring from one country to another.

    "See the Child" is an extraordinary exploration of love and loss: between parent and child, man and woman, grandfather and grandchild. Paul Unger has a comfortable life, but it starts to unravel when his son becomes involved with a provocative young woman, Nicole. Soon his world is overturned, Stephen is gone, and he is left to question his own role in the death. When, several years later, Nicole returns to town with a child who might be Paul's grandson, Paul imagines in both of them a path back to his son.Set in small-town Manitoba and reaching to Montana and back, "See the Child" is a haunting and beautifully rendered observation of sorrow. Acclaimed Canadian novelist David Bergen brings to his landscapes a series of indelible portraits: Paul's wife, Lise, who tries to understand why he must leave her; Harry, who desires Lise but knows he cannot keep her; Sky, the child who seems to bear the imprint of the dead Stephen; Wyatt, the gun-toting lumberjack who wants Nicole and Sky; and Paul, a man who must first forgive himself before he can go forward with his life.Written with tenderness, eloquence, and an exquisite sensuality, "See the Child" explores the healing power of time and the nature of love.

    A Chinese American woman tells of the Chinese myths, family stories and events of her California childhood that have shaped her identity.

    One by one, over a hundred men and women are forced by the harsh feudal officialdom to take to the hills. They band together and defeat every attempt of the government troops to crush them. Within this framework we find intrigue, adventure, murder, warfare, romance ... in a connected series of fascinating individual tales, told in the suspenseful manner of the traditional storyteller.