Hard Like Water

‘The new masterpiece by eminent Chinese writer Yan Lianke … two revolutionaries take matters disastrously into their own hands while conducting a crazed affair’ MARGARET ATWOOD on Twitter

A breakneck adventure story following the erotic love affair of party cadres Aijun and Hongmei during China’s Cultural Revolution

This is the story of the freewheeling love affair between married soldier Aijun and Hongmei, a beautiful young woman from his village in the Balou Mountains.

Intoxicated with one another, Aijun and Hongmei hurl themselves into their town’s revolutionary struggle. Spending their days and nights stamping out feudalism, writing pamphlets and organising rallies, they become inseparable: they are the engines of history.

But as their political activity reaches new heights, so does the danger of getting caught…

‘A blistering tour-de-force… Sensuous and riveting’ MADELEINE THIEN, Booker-shortlisted author of Do Not Say We Have Nothing

‘Fascinating… This tale of an illicit tryst during the Cultural Revolution is a stinging satire’ The Times

**A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST FICTION IN TRANSLATION BOOK 2021**