A National Bestseller
One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2022-Vulture, Electric Lit, Ms. magazine, The Millions, and Book Riot
On the eve of China's Cultural Revolution and her sixteenth birthday, Mei dreams of becoming a model revolutionary. When the Communist Party recruits girls for a mysterious duty in the capital, she seizes the opportunity. Mei gradually becomes the Chairman's confidante - and paramour. While he fends off political rivals, Mei faces down schemers who will stop at nothing to take her place and the Chairman's imperious wife, who has secret plans of her own. When the Chairman finally gives Mei a political mission, she seizes it with fervor, but the brutality of this latest stage of the revolution makes her begin to doubt all the certainties she has held so dear.