Wild Swans: Three Daughters Of China

Description: Few books have had such an impact as Wild Swans: a popular bestseller which has sold more than 13 million copies and a critically acclaimed history of China; a tragic tale of nightmarish cruelty and an uplifting story of bravery and survival.Through the story of three generations of women in her own family - the grandmother given to the warlord as a concubine, the Communist mother and the daughter herself - Jung Chang reveals the epic history of China's twentieth century.Breathtaking in its scope, unforgettable in its descriptions, this is a masterpiece which is extraordinary in every way.

Review: `It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of this book.' Mary Wesley`Everything about "Wild Swans" is extraordinary. It arouses all the emotions, such as pity and terror, that great tragedy is supposed to evoke, and also a complex mixture of admiration, despair and delight at seeing a luminous intelligence directed at the heart of darkness.' Minette Marrin, Sunday Telegraph`Immensely moving and unsettling; an unforgettable portrait of the brain-death of a nation.' J. G. Ballard, Sunday Times`"Wild Swans" made me feel like a five-year-old. This is a family memoir that has the breadth of the most enduring social history.' Martin Amis, Independent on Sunday`There has never been a book like this.' Edward Behr, Los Angeles Times

Author Biography: Jung Chang was born in Yibin, Sichuan Province, China, in 1952. She was briefly a Red Guard at the age of fourteen, and then a peasant, a `barefoot doctor', a steelworker and an electrician. She came to Britain in 1978, and in 1982 became the first person from the People's Republic of China to receive a doctorate from a British university. `Wild Swans' won the 1992 NCR Book Award and the 1993 British Book of the Year. She lives in London.