«When it comes to spinning light and shadow on the complexities of living, loving and language, Xiaolu Guo is one of the most valuable writers in the world»

DEBORAH LEVY

«An etymological voyage that lives up to its title: radical in angle of attack, smart and brave. Making the urban condition of restlessness and pain into poetry»

IAIN SINCLAIR, author of The Gold Machine

«A wild, passionate, gorgeous book, wandering the borders of language and desire; walking cities and remembering the ghosts of past landscapes. Xiaolu Guo's books always open up new connections and curiosities for me. She is certainly among my favourite contemporary writers»

AYSEGUL SAVAS, author of White on White

«Xiaolu Guo is a writer like no other, and this is a memoir like no other»

RANA MITTER, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China, University of Oxford

«Xiaolu Guo is a writer like no other, and this is a memoir like no other. Organised through a series of words that cut across languages, the book shows the divides and the connections that define a life lived between China, Europe and America, all explained with wit, lightness of touch and the occasional pinch of heartbreak»

RANA MITTER