Forbidden City

Books

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A teenage girl living in 1960s China becomes Mao Zedong's protégée and lover-and a heroine of the Cultural Revolution-in this "masterful" (The Washington Post) novel. "A new classic about China's Cultural Revolution . . . Think Succession, but add death and mayhem to the palace intrigue. . . . Ambitious and impressive."-San Francisco Chronicle ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, PopSugar • Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize On the eve of China's Cultural Revolution and her sixteenth birthday, Mei dreams of becoming a model revolutionary. When the Communist Party recruits girls for a mysterious duty in the capital, she seizes the opportunity to escape her impoverished village. It is only when Mei arrives at the Chairman's opulent residence-a forbidden city unto itself-that she learns that the girls' job is to dance with the Party elites. Ambitious and whip-smart, Mei beelines toward the Chairman. Mei gradually separates herself from the other recruits to ...