Rock 'n' roll, revolution, and romance are seductively woven together in this intense and moving novel from the author of Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth In her flat in north London, Iona Kirkpatrick sets to work on a new project translating a collection of letters and diaries by a Chinese musician. With each letter and journal entry, Iona becomes more and more intrigued with the unfolding story of two lovers: Jian, a punk rocker who believes there is no art without political commitment, and Mu, the young woman he loves as fiercely as his ideals. Iona cannot possibly know that Jian is mere miles away in Dover, awaiting the uncertain fate of a political exile. Mu is still in Beijing, writing letters to London and desperately trying to track Jian down. As Iona charts the course of their twenty-year relationship, from its early beginnings at Beijing University to Jian’s defiant march in the Jasmine Revolution, her own empty life takes on an urgent purpose: to bring Jian and Mu together again before it’s too late.

Written in a series of short chapters, with each one becoming the definition of a word, a novel about a young Chinese woman caught in the cultural confusion of England explores the endless possibilities for misunderstanding between East and West.

Coral and her boyfriend live in modern-day Beijing. Their already-fragile existence is shattered by the arrival of a mysterious fishy package - as the smell of the sea flood her home, Coral is transported back to a traumatic childhood dominated by solitude, fear and shame.