The Bathing Women

Tie Ning won a national short story award at the age of twenty-five and is the recipient of numerous other literary prizes. She has published ten books—collections of short fiction, essays, and novels—three of which were made into movies and television series, including The Bathing Women. In 2006, at the age of forty-nine, she was elected president of the Chinese Writers Association, becoming the youngest writer and first woman to be honored in this way. Her works have been translated into Russian, German, French, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Danish, Norwegian, and Vietnamese. The Bathing Women is her first work to be translated into English.

”'If I were to pick the ten best literary works in the world of the past ten years, I would definitely rank THE BATHING WOMEN among them” - Kenzaburō Ōe, Nobel Laureate

”'As this spirited quartet chase their dreams against a backdrop of shifting cultural values, the novel - a million-copy seller in China - blends romance and feminism to paint an intimate portrait of these women’s ambitions, appetites and rivalries” - DAILY MAIL

”'[A] fascinating story of sisters growing up in the shadow of the cultural revolution” - GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

”'Intelligent and evocative writing … about the shaping effect of deprivation and how people may still draw reservoirs of love and kindness from these voids” - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

”'Tie Ning’s unique novel about three Chinese women and their struggles In today’s fast-changing China is as gorgeous as the Cezanne painting the novel takes its title from” - Xinran, author of THE GOOD WOMEN OF CHINA

”'A probing and gracefully written portrait of an extended Chinese family, related by blood and mystery, in which the author explores areas of human behavior traditionally considered off-limits: the intimate and sexual lives of ordinary Chinese women” - Hannah Pakula, author of THE LAST EMPRESS