"Presents the life and times of one of China's foremost men of letters with a richness of detail and liveliness of style that significantly extends our knowledge and appreciation of Hsiao Ch'ien as journalist, novelist, and translator. At the same time, the work deepens our understanding of the dilemmas facing China's intellectuals during much of the twentieth century. Hsiao writes with grace and eloquence, leavening his serious tone with a pungent wit, and Jeffrey C. Kinkley has translated Hsiao with remarkable skill and sensitivity."—Carolyn Wakeman, University of California, Berkeley

"Politics is ever-present, but each page swarms with other things: accounts of the books Hsiao read, the conversations he had, the jokes he told, the wine he savored, the smell of blossom in Cambridge of Heidelburg, and, above all, the way in which this man of enormous humor and endless curiosity perceives both East and West."—Sunday Times (London)