Anchee Min

From the master of the historical novel, Empress Orchid sweeps readers into the splendid heart of the Forbidden City to tell the fascinating story of a young Chinese concubine who becomes china's last empress. Min introduces the beautiful Tzu Hsi, known as Orchid, and weaves an epic of a country girl who seizes power through seduction, murder, and endless intrigue. When china is threatened by enemies, she alone sees capable of holding her country...

From the Publisher: In a sweeping, erotically charged story that moves gracefully from the intimately personal to the great stage of world history, Anchee Min renders a powerful tale of passion, betrayal, and survival and creates a finely nuanced and always ambiguous portrait of one of the most fascinating, and vilified, women of the twentieth century. Madame Mao is almost universally known as the "white-boned demon"--Ambitious, vindictive, and cruel-whose...

A woman who grew up in China during its Cultural Revolution describes the grueling physical labor she endured on Red Fire Farm, her forced segregation from men, her sexual relationship with her platoon leader, and her introduction to acting.