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Born in 1972 in Beijing, Shan Sa started writing at seven and enjoyed success as a teenage poet.
At 18 she moved to Paris to study, worked for the artist Balthus and won a Goncourt with her first novel (she writes in French), a Prix Cazes for her second and Goncourt des Lycéens for this one. |
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Set within the framework of the board game, go, the novel takes place in Japanese-occupied Manchuria in 1936.
A Japanese soldier has been sent with his battalion to seek out the Chinese resistance movement within the region, a gateway, he believes, for the glorious death that has long been his ambition. Meanwhile, a Chinese schoolgirl finds solace from the frustrations of adolescence, obsessively playing go in the square.
In an attempt to infiltrate the enemy, the soldier joins the city's goplayers, and falls in love with the girl.
When the Japanese army moves towards Beijing, the game breaks up. |
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