Book description
Longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize and a modern Chinese
classic with over one million copies sold.
Sisters Tiao and Fan grew up in the shadow of the Cultural Revolution
where they witnessed ritual humiliation and suffering. They also
witnessed the death of their baby sister in a tragic accident. It was an
accident they could have prevented; an accident that will stay with them forever.
In the China of the 1990s the sisters lead seemingly successful lives.
Tiao is a successful children's publisher but incapable of finding love.
Fan has moved to America, desperate to shun her Chinese heritage. Then
there is their childhood friend Fei: beautiful, hedonistic and outwardly ambitious.
As the women grapple with love, rivalry and past secrets will they find
the freedom and redemption they crave?
Spellbinding, unforgettable, and an important chronicle of modern
China, The Bathing Women is a powerful and beautiful portrait of the
strength of female friendship in the face of adversity. 'If I were to
pick the ten best literary works in the world of the past ten years, I
would definitely rank THE BATHING WOMEN among them' Kenzabur e, Nobel Laureate
'As this spirited quartet chase their dreams against a backdrop of
shifting cultural values, the novel - a million-copy seller in China -
blends romance and feminism to paint an intimate portrait of these
women's ambitions, appetites and rivalries' DAILY MAIL
'[A] fascinating story of sisters growing up in the shadow of the
cultural revolution' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
'Intelligent and evocative writing … about the shaping effect of
deprivation and how people may still draw reservoirs of love and
kindness from these voids' SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST Tie Ning won a
national short story award at the age of twenty-five and is the
recipient of numerous other literary prizes. She has published ten
books-collections of short fiction, essays, and novels-three of which
were made into movies and television series, including The Bathing
Women. In 2006, at the age of forty-nine, she was elected president of
the Chinese Writers Association, becoming the youngest writer and first
woman to be honored in this way. Her works have been translated into
Russian, German, French, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Danish, Norwegian,
and Vietnamese. The Bathing Women is her first work to be translated
into English.
