Rouge Street: Three Novellas

8vo, br. ed. "Nimbly translated by Jeremy Tiang . . . Rouge Street gives voice to an intriguing cast of characters left behind by Chinaís economic miracle . . . Shuang pulls no punches, and the reader has much to gain by stepping into this world of matter-of-fact brutality, mystery and intrigue, unexpected humour and small but meaningful acts of personal honour . . . From start to finish, his scope is close to the ground, his language sparingly emotive and unobtrusive. He never flinches. As a result, we donít look away either." --Jing Tsu, The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice) "These stories unfold in northeast China, centred on the authorís home city, Shenyang, a region that has had little literary representation available to English speakers . . . For all the bleakness that his characters encounter there-violence, poverty, retribution-there are moments of possibility and levity, too." --Joumana Khatib, The New York Times Book Review ("12 New Books Coming in April") "[Rouge Street] turns . . . from the powerfully realistic to the fantastical and surreal, in an existential theatre reminiscent of Pirandello or Sartre . . . Shuang weaves with Dostoevskian skill the voices and experiences of the players in this drama . . . Through various monologues, the novella creates not just a suspenseful thriller, but a textured, rich portrait of a community over time." --Claire Messud, Harper's Magazine L'autore Shuang Xuetao is one of the most highly celebrated young Chinese writers. Born in 1983 in the city of Shenyang, Shuang has written several volumes of fiction, for which he has won the Blossoms Literary Prize, the Wang Zengqi Short Story Prize, and the Blancpain-Imaginist Literary Prize for the best Chinese writer under forty-five. His short stories and novellas, including ìMoses on the Plain,î have been adapted into major television productions and feature films. Rouge Street is his first book to appear in English. Shuang lives in Beijing.