Candy

An international literary phenomenon — now available for the first time in English translation — Candy is a hip, harrowing tale of risk and desire, the story of a young Chinese woman forging a life for herself in a world seemingly devoid of guidelines.

Hong, who narrates the novel, and whose life in many ways parallels the author’s own, drops out of high school and runs away at age 17 to the frontier city of Shenzen. As Hong navigates the temptations of the city, she quickly falls in love with a young musician and together they dive into a cruel netherworld of alcohol, drugs, and excess, a life that fails to satisfy Hong’s craving for an authentic self, and for a love that will define her. This startling and subversive novel is a blast of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll that opens up to us a modern China we’ve never seen before.

Banned in China — with Mian Mian labeled the ‘poster child for spiritual pollution’ — Candy still managed to sell 60,000 copies, as well as countless additional copies in pirated editions. Candy has been published in eight countries to date and has become a bestseller in France.