Review
'Pearl Buck is one of the greatest writers on China, and Hilary Spurling has brought her and the China of her time to life with amazing immediacy and perception.' --Jung Chang, author of 'Wild Swans' and biographer of 'Mao'
'Thrilling... After Burying the Bones, you won't want to read anything that isn't by Buck, expect for books about China...' --The Sunday Times
`Immensely readable... She marshals her material beautifully... and shows the remarkable impact of Buck's work.' --Siobhan Murphy, Metro
'A gripping biography... haunting stuff.' --Peter Burton, Daily Express
`Boldly conceived and magnificently written ... a triumphant landmark in the development of creative biography.' --Elaine Showalter, Literary Review
`Magical' --Mail on Sunday, `Must Read'
`An elegant and sympathetic portrait of one of the most extraordinary Americans of the 20th century' --Isabel Hilton, Guardian
`A biographical masterpiece' --Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times
Spurling, who has never written a dull sentence, also has magic power as a writer' --Frances Wilson, Sunday Times
`A subtle and masterly book' --Victoria Glendinning, Spectator
`A spellbinding, lyrical and completely unputdownable book... the most compelling and hair-raising biography that I have ever read.' --Miranda Seymour, The Lady
`Superb... a terrific story, told with rare intelligence and refinement... We are fortunate that Spurling has turned her attention eastwards.' --George Walden, Mail on Sunday
`A riveting account' --Lucy Lethbridge, The Tablet
`A fascinating dissection of tortured family relationships... revealing the tortured relationship between the West and China in those turbulent days' --The Economist
`One hell of a story... Spurling is a very fine writer, who couldn't turn a shoddy sentence if she tried' --The Scotsman
`Genius... entirely new kind of literary biography... that uses the work to write the life... Mere fiction dims by comparison.' --Jerusha McCormack, Irish Times
`A fine portrait by a terrific storyteller... Spurling should be applauded for bringing this remarkable woman back to us.'
--Sun Shuyun, Observer
`It's out-of-time, out of fashion, but has an enduring bright intelligence and is one of the books of the year' --Richard Davenport-Hines, Sunday Telegraph
`A hugely entertaining read... boasts a narrative as compelling as any pot-boiler...a treasure ... a compelling account.' --Sunday Business Post
`A triumph of intellectual and human sympathy, exploring the frontiers between reality and imagination, between goodness and madness.' -- Maggie Fergusson, Intelligent Life
'A nimble but densely textured account of the American novelist's life-defining spell in China, through a pivotal period of the country's recent history' -- Independent
'Thrilling... After Burying the Bones, you won't want to read anything that isn't by Buck, expect for books about China...' --The Sunday Times
`Immensely readable... She marshals her material beautifully... and shows the remarkable impact of Buck's work.' --Siobhan Murphy, Metro
'A gripping biography... haunting stuff.' --Peter Burton, Daily Express
`Boldly conceived and magnificently written ... a triumphant landmark in the development of creative biography.' --Elaine Showalter, Literary Review
`Magical' --Mail on Sunday, `Must Read'
`An elegant and sympathetic portrait of one of the most extraordinary Americans of the 20th century' --Isabel Hilton, Guardian
`A biographical masterpiece' --Jackie Wullschlager, Financial Times
Spurling, who has never written a dull sentence, also has magic power as a writer' --Frances Wilson, Sunday Times
`A subtle and masterly book' --Victoria Glendinning, Spectator
`A spellbinding, lyrical and completely unputdownable book... the most compelling and hair-raising biography that I have ever read.' --Miranda Seymour, The Lady
`Superb... a terrific story, told with rare intelligence and refinement... We are fortunate that Spurling has turned her attention eastwards.' --George Walden, Mail on Sunday
`A riveting account' --Lucy Lethbridge, The Tablet
`A fascinating dissection of tortured family relationships... revealing the tortured relationship between the West and China in those turbulent days' --The Economist
`One hell of a story... Spurling is a very fine writer, who couldn't turn a shoddy sentence if she tried' --The Scotsman
`Genius... entirely new kind of literary biography... that uses the work to write the life... Mere fiction dims by comparison.' --Jerusha McCormack, Irish Times
`A fine portrait by a terrific storyteller... Spurling should be applauded for bringing this remarkable woman back to us.'
--Sun Shuyun, Observer
`It's out-of-time, out of fashion, but has an enduring bright intelligence and is one of the books of the year' --Richard Davenport-Hines, Sunday Telegraph
`A hugely entertaining read... boasts a narrative as compelling as any pot-boiler...a treasure ... a compelling account.' --Sunday Business Post
`A triumph of intellectual and human sympathy, exploring the frontiers between reality and imagination, between goodness and madness.' -- Maggie Fergusson, Intelligent Life
'A nimble but densely textured account of the American novelist's life-defining spell in China, through a pivotal period of the country's recent history' -- Independent
Book Description
A thrilling portrait of the extraordinary childhood of Pearl Buck, the now-forgotten bestselling Nobel Prize winning novelist and author of The Good Earth
