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The Bathing Women

The Bathing Women

Author(s): Tie Ning

Location(s): Beijing (Peking)

Genre(s): Fiction

Era(s): 20th Century

Location

Content

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?

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Lead Review

‘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

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