Longlisted for the Baileys Women's Fiction Prize. In an apartment above a noisy market in North London, translator Iona Kirkpatrick begins to work on a Chinese letter. Two lovers, Mu and Jian, have been torn apart by forces beyond their control. As Iona unfolds the story of the lovers, Jian and Mu seem to drift further apart. Enchanted by their romance, Iona sets out to bring them back together, but time is running out. Xiaolu Guo has been recognized as one of Granta's best young British novelists.