"Engrossing.... a terrifically entertaining novel."--Irish Times In the early 20th century
China is a land undergoing a momentous social and cultural shift with a thousand-year-old
empire crumbling and the nation on the brink of modernity. Against this backdrop a quiet man
from the North embarks on a perilous journey to a Southern city in the grip of a savage
snowstorm. He carries with him a newborn baby: he is looking for the child's mother and a city
that isn't there. This is a story of two people: a man who finds unexpected success after
having journeyed to the hometown of the woman who abandoned him and the woman he is searching
for who mysteriously disappeared to embark on her own eventful journey. This is a story about
vanished crafts and ancient customs about violence love and friendship. Above all it's a
story about change and about storytelling itself full of vivid characters and surprising
twists-an epic tale as inexorable as time itself and as gripping as a classic adventure story.
