The Book of Secrets

The Book of Secrets [is] a particularly rare thing: a candid, insider account showing just how much the party knew and how much it covered up. * Cindy Yu, The Spectator *
An extraordinary firsthand account of Communist Party machinery at its most brutal and paranoid. * Sunday Telegraph *
No one has done more than Xinran to tell the truth about the lives of ordinary people in twentieth-century China. Her Book of Secrets is a tale of horror, redeemed as always by the story-teller’s warmth, grace and narrative grip. * Hilary Spurling, author of Burying the Bones *
An extraordinary book of huge historical interest and value, exactly the kind of book that the Western world needs to read, to understand the complexity of the Chinese political worldview since 1949. * Julia Lovell, author of Maoism: A Global History *
Xinran's talent is to survey the vast tidal waves of history and focus in on the human lives floating rudderless in their wake. This is a wonderful and compelling read. * Tim Clissold, author of Mr China and Cloud Chamber *
Xinran recounts an epic journey through China's recent history with a rare passion and clarity. The tale is seen through the tragic experience of a once powerful family, whose suffering she describes as though it were her own. * Patrick Marnham, author of The Man Who Wasn't Maigret *
The Book Of Secrets is the remarkable story of [a] deeply dysfunctional family. * Mail on Sunday *
A youthful faith betrayed and a deep love unrequited make for the most poignant of stories. * The Tablet *
‘In modern China, all human lives are being re-carved under the knife of the party,’ writes Xinran, who has spent the past two decades telling stories like this one that show the price paid in human terms. -- Hilary Spurling * The Spectator Books of the Year *