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.

An extraordinary firsthand account of Communist Party machinery at its most brutal and paranoid.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Book Of Secrets is the remarkable story of [a] deeply dysfunctional family.

A youthful faith betrayed and a deep love unrequited make for the most poignant of stories.

‘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.