Letters from the Great Wall [Paperback]

`Daiches' debut novel has considerable virtues. Her evocation of
travelling around China is sharp and effective.'

`she brings to it, not only her considerable writing experience,
but also a historian's perspective and an illuminating quality of insight
into what gives value to human aspiration.'

`This is a novel that the discriminating reader will value. It is
strong, it is searchingly honest, it is passionately realised, and it is
utterly free of ideology or polemic.'

In leaving behind the physical closeness of her relationships with her long-term partner, parents, brother and family she is able to analyse and confront 'the mush of dissatisfaction' that had been expanding to fill her life. By lecturing in Beijing Eleanor is at once observer and observed, teacher and pupil. The novel culminates in Tiananmen Square, June 1989, as she finds herself drawn into the unfolding drama that led to one of the most momentous events of the 20th century.