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English cover art

English

By: Wang Gang
Narrated by: Michael Sun Lee
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Publisher's Summary

In the tradition of Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Wang Gang's English is a captivating coming-of-age novel about the power of language to launch a journey of self-discovery. When a new teacher - a tall, elegantly dressed man from Shanghai carrying an English dictionary under his arm - comes to Urumqi, the capital of China's far west region of Xinjiang, 12-year-old Love Liu turns away from Chairman Mao's little red book and toward the teacher's big blue book for answers to his most pressing questions about love and life. But as a whole new world begins to open up for him, Love Liu must face a test more challenging than any he'll take in the classroom.

©2009 Wang Gang (P)2009 Penguin

Critic Reviews

"I loved this book and can't stop talking about it...Transcendent." (Carolyn See, The Washington Post)

"Equally tender and searing... More than any other book I've read about Communist China. English conveys a sense of the time and place with clarity, authenticity and compassion." (Tiffany Lee-Youngren, The San Diego Union-Tribune)

"Deftly explores the politics of language during those treacherous times." (Travel + Leisure

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