It appears that the author of K could not be happier that people are talking about the sexually explicit nature of her writing-touted as a Chinese Lady Chatterly's Lover-expressing her pleasure in the lengthy foreword: "So to all you readers who see the erotic in K, I congratulate you on your luck." Hong writes of the illicit love affair between young Julian Bell, son of Vanessa and nephew of Virginia Woolf, and Lin Cheng, then the wife of a college dean who is Julian's employer in China. Grabbing the freedom to blend fact with fiction, Hong imagines, quite vividly, all the angst, guilt, and eroticism involved in the taboo union between a "respectable" Chinese woman and a "foreign devil." Set against the backdrop of the Japanese invasion of China and all its attendant horror, the book conveys a vivid sense of the disparities between sensibilities both emotional and physical. This is a fast and interesting read that will not disappoint those looking for yet another literary work alluding to the Bloomsbury group. Recommended for all libraries. [The daughter of Ling Shuhua, on whom Lin Cheng is based, has brought suit against this book in China, claiming that it defames her mother. Hong Ying currently lives in London.-Ed.]-Michelle Reale, Elkins Park, P.

--Michelle Reale, Elkins Park, PA

Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Written with the elegant and poetic simplicity that has become Ying's hallmark, her latest novel is based on fact - the passionate affair between Bloomsbury Group favourite Julian Bell and Chinese intellectual Lin Cheng. The erotic tale is set against the backdrop of pre-revolution Peking, a place of sleaze and decadence. Lin teaches Julian the Daoist Art of Love, and finds him an eager pupil. For a time it is possible for them to ignore the disintegration of Chinese culture going on all around, and the distant drumbeats of war. But these elements come to overwhelm their illicit liaison with tragic consequences. Following on from Ying's acclaimed Summer Of Betrayal and her autobiography Daughter Of The River, the book is high on passion and emotion without ever straying over the line of good taste. In Julian Bell (nephew of Virginia Woolf) and Ling Cheng, Ying has drawn a pair of remarkable characters who each have their secrets to protect.(Kirkus UK)