The surprise literary bestseller of the year, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is a beguiling fable that shines with the wonder of imagination, the beauty of romance, and the power of storytelling.Set during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the novel tells the story of two hapless city boys sent to a remote mountain village for reeducation. Struggling to stave off despair, the boys find salvation in two discoveries: the charming daughter of the local tailor and a trove of forbidden Western classics in Chinese translation. Dai Sijie, himself an unwilling participant in Mao’s reeducation program, has fashioned an enchanting and uplifting tale from one of the darkest moments in recent history.