The Book of Secrets

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What to expect

Bloomsbury presents The Book of Secrets by Xinran Xue, read by Daniel York Loh and Crystal Yu.

‘An extraordinary firsthand account of Communist Party machinery at its most brutal and paranoid’ --Sunday Telegraph

Picked as Hilary Spurling's Book of the Year in The Spectator.

The spellbinding story of the secret life of a spy in modern China, drawn from an extraordinary archive of personal diaries and letters.

Following the lives of military intelligence officer Jie and his wife Moon, The Book of Secrets weaves recently found material into a narrative that not only illuminates the shadowy world of intelligence in China, but also the emotional tragedies that political extremism inflicted on those working within.

Drawing on Jie’s own vivid biography of his youth, Xinran pieces together his trajectory as he joins the great hope of the Chinese young – the Communist Party – and becomes a loyal cadre until the late 1970s when, as a chief in the security forces, he makes a decision that will poison his family against him.

This is a totally unique behind-the-scenes account of a family torn apart by the Tiananmen Square massacre and the attempts of Jie to finally open up the Chinese system to the people, pieced together from an extraordinary archive of personal diaries and letters.

Critics Review

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
Xinran has written an exceptional, heart-wrenching account of the emotional tragedy of one family at the apex of Chinese Communist politics. A unique insight into life inside one of the world’s most powerful and secretive organisations.
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.
The Spectator Books of the Year

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