Major works by Xu Xiaobin

The Pisces

The novella won Xu Xiaobin the country’s first Lu Xun Literature Prize. It tells the story of marriage and the extramarital life of the female protagonist when the country was changing dramatically toward a market economy in the early 1990s.

Dunhuang Dream

Against the background of Buddhist figures and ideas, the story portrays two men and one woman after they arrive at Dunhuang from different paths. As their relationship develops, a crime seeps into the storyline to present a symphony of emotion, power and conspiracy. Simon & Schuster has released the English version of the book.

Feathered Serpent

One of Xu’s representative works, the novel has been reprinted 13 times. It’s about five generations of female characters in a family, reflecting the country’s transformations. “It’s a complicated and beautiful story about lust and being an outcast,” veteran literary critic Sun Yu with Renmin University says. It was listed as the first title to open up Simon & Schuster’s Atria International Editions, a publishing plan to “scout the globe to bring readers the very best in new fiction translated into English — stories and voices that North American readers might not otherwise be able to enjoy,” says Judith Curr, executive vice-president and founder of Atria Books.

Inferno Flowers

Princess Sea Lily takes on a human face to save the sea clan from humans. She tries hard to locate the original owner of a magic ring she happens to have. For that, she’s later betrayed by the two worlds and finds that the human skin melts into her own, leaving her in a dilemma of nowhere to go back to.