The Colonel and the Eunuch

The phenomenal #1 Chinese bestseller, with over 2.5 million copies sold. This is a searing exploration of what makes a hero: a literary masterpiece, available in the English language for the very first time. The boy grows up in a small village in south China listening to stories about the Colonel: some say he was a legendary army doctor during the war, some say he was a traitor to the Party, still others say he is a wicked sex machine. The stories are bawdy and mesmerizing, always larger than life. Yet in reality, the Colonel is just a middleaged man who loves his cat. And why on earth does everyone call him the Eunuch? From these disparate sources, the boy tries to piece together who the Colonel really is, just as he himself grows up in a rapidly changing China. It is not until many years later, when the boy also becomes a middleaged man, that he would look back and finally solve the puzzle. The Colonel and the Eunuch is Mai Jias first new novel in eight years and his most ambitious work to date. An exciting departure from spy thrillers, this is a comingofage story, a family saga, as well as a searing exploration of what makes a hero. The Colonel is Mai Jias singular creation: an almost mythic figure shrouded in the tragedy of war and history, whose story will move even the most stonehearted to tears.