Bright Moon Terrace

Bright Moon Terrace tells of loyalty, love and good fortune in a family pulled apart by intrigue: a minister repaying his ruler, a son repaying his father, lovers parted and brought together under the bright moon. It is a short, warm Qing novel about the good things that survive change. This is a complete new English translation, with names in modern pinyin and the text rendered as plain, readable English prose. Like the best scholar-and-beauty novels it moves quickly, with disguises, poems exchanged in secret, examinations, villains and a hard-won happy ending. These romances were the popular reading of their day, devoured by young men and women, imitated on the stage and admired abroad, and they remain charming, quick and surprising.