Lovers in the Age of Indifference

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Xiaolu Guo, best known for her enchanting yet sharp take on culture-shock, A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, presents a new work of fiction exploring the themes of love and exile that she has so brilliantly made her own. The lovers in the age of indifference are tough romantics from every corner of the planet- a marriage splinters during a game of mah jong; a depressed fiancee is lifted by a mid-air encounter with a Hollywood legend; a mountain keeper watches over a lonely temple but is perturbed when, finally, a visitor dares to arrive. In this engagingly maverick collection of stories, writer and filmmaker Guo zooms into tender and surreal moments in the lives of lost souls and lovers, adrift between West and East. Her personal, provocative and charming fables capture the sense of alienation thrown up by life in the modern world, and we join her characters in their search for human contact - and love - in rapidly-changing landscapes all around the globe.

Reviews

Witty and original...one of China's most successful literary exports * Guardian *
Funny and melancholy, scintillatingly observed * The Times *
Original, humorous and wise -- Amy Tan

Author Bio

Xiaolu Guo was born in China. She published six books before moving to Britain in 2002. Her books include- Village of Stone, shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize; A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, shortlisted for the Orange Prize; and I Am China. Her recent memoir, Once Upon a Time in the East, won the National Book Critics Circle Award, was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award and the Rathbones Folio Prize 2018. It was a Sunday Times Book of the Year. Her most recent novel A Lover's Discourse was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize 2020. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a visiting professor at the Free University in Berlin.