Shanghai Baby

"I just write the truth," says Wei Hui. The particular brand of truth this courageous young novelist writes is so compelling & provocative that, despite a government-administered muzzle on it, hundreds of thousands of copies of her embattled book are selling & circulating around China, on the Internet, & across Asia & Europe. In September, her truth comes to America. Widely discussed in such publications as The Washington Post & The New York Times, Wei Hui's graphic, semi-autobiographical portrait of love, sex, & drugs has touched a raw nerve among readers, reviewers, & government censors alike. Set in the 1990s, Shanghai Baby tells the story of Coco, a 25-year-old waitress embroiled in a love triangle. Living with a handsome & sensitive but impotent & drug-addicted Chinese artist, Coco is drawn into an intensely physical affair with a married German whose vaguely threatening "fascist" streak turns her on. "One is for love, the other is for lust." Or so she tells herself. A liberated beauty facing the rigidities of her Chinese heritage head on, Coco is nonetheless mired in an emotional & erotic sand trap, torn between body & soul, passion & love. Behind all the controversy, Shanghai Baby is first & foremost an evocative & skillfully written novel certain to strike a chord with readers everywhere.Hui, Wei is the author of 'Shanghai Baby' with ISBN 9780743421560 and ISBN 0743421566.