BECOMING MADAME MAO
Anchee Min’s new novel, Becoming Madame Mao (Mariner Books), is a triumph of historical fiction. In Min’s skillful hands, the “white-boned demon,” as Madame Mao is known, is given flesh and blood. The myths surrounding her are systematically unraveled to reveal a woman motivated by ambition, fueled by revenge, and tortured by her unrequited love for Mao Zedong.
To millions, Madame Mao Jiang Ching is evil personified; she has been erased from China’s history books. In Becoming Madame Mao, Anchee Min resurrects her in a sweeping story that moves gracefully from the intimately personal to the great stage of world history.
Anchee Min’s new novel, Becoming Madame Mao (Mariner Books), is a triumph of historical fiction. In Min’s skillful hands, the “white-boned demon,” as Madame Mao is known, is given flesh and blood. The myths surrounding her are systematically unraveled to reveal a woman motivated by ambition, fueled by revenge, and tortured by her unrequited love for Mao Zedong.
To millions, Madame Mao Jiang Ching is evil personified; she has been erased from China’s history books. In Becoming Madame Mao, Anchee Min resurrects her in a sweeping story that moves gracefully from the intimately personal to the great stage of world history. Every character existed in real life, and the protagonists’ letters and poems have been translated from original documents. These facts and Min’s personal experiences with Jiang Ching and her closest advisers help to create a story that redefines forever Mao’s fourth wife—one of the most interesting women of the twentieth century.
- Mariner Books
- Paperback
- April 2001
- 352 Pages
- 9780618127009
Buy the Book
$13.95
About Anchee Min
Anchee Min was born in Shanghai in 1957. At seventeen she was sent to a labor collective, where a talent scout for Madame Mao’s Shanghai Film Studio recruited her to work as a movie actress. She came to the United States in 1984 with the help of actress Joan Chen. Her memoir, Red Azalea, was named one of the New York Times Notable Books of 1994 and was an international bestseller, with rights sold in twenty countries. Her novels Becoming Madame Mao and Empress Orchid were published to critical acclaim and were national bestsellers. Her two other novels, Katherine and Wild Ginger, were published to wonderful reviews and impressive foreign sales.
Praise
“Nothing less than brillant.”
—ALA Booklist starred & boxed review
“Historical fiction acquires new luster and credibility in Min’s brillant evocation of the woman who married Mao and fought to succeed him…[a] spellbinding novel.”—Publishers Weekly starred & boxed review
“Brillant. We will never imagine Madame Mao the same way again. This is historical fiction of the first order.”—Russell Banks, author of Cloudsplitter
“Anchee Min has rendered the White-Boned human — Madame Mao is finally given her own voice. A remarkable accomplishment.”—Ha Jin, author of Waiting