From one of the greatest Chinese authors of the twentieth century, these delicate stories illuminate the most intimate matters of the human heart – now available in English for the very first time. Since childhood, Ruliang has had the peculiar habit of sketching a certain profile in the margins of his books. He has mapped out this same face, over and over again, without knowing why – until he meets Cythnia. As brief and evocative as sketches themselves, these five stories of lost loves, nostalgia and migration reveal a master of feeling at the peak of her powers. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days