{"product_id":"9781398559875","title":"Ghost Cities : 'As beautiful as it is honest as it is funny' Guardian","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn award-winning novel from an international rising star – spanning ancient and modern China – in the dazzlingly inventive style of Haruki Murakami and Kaliane Bradley'Lu has a brilliant mind for style, language, pace and ideas, and this is a funny and fascinating book that I can’t wait to read again and again.’ Guardian ‘By turns dazzling, funny and utterly bewildering, it’s a novel unlike anything else you’ll read this year.’ Mail on Sunday‘I was mesmerised the moment I opened this book.’ Bora Chung, International Booker shortlisted author of Cursed BunnyInspired by the vacant, uninhabited megacities of China, Ghost Cities follows multiple narratives, including one in which a young man named Xiang is fired from his job as a translator at Sydney's Chinese Consulate after it is discovered he doesn't speak a word of Chinese and has been relying entirely on Google Translate for his work. The incident goes viral under the hashtag #BadChinese and attracts the attention of the eccentric film director Baby Bao, who uses Lu to attract press for his latest film. Bao’s movie, based on ancient legends, is to be filmed in one of China’s “ghost cities”.   How is his relocation to a ghost city connected to a parallel odyssey in which an ancient Emperor creates a thousand doubles of Himself? Or where a horny mountain gains sentience? Where a chess-playing automaton hides a deadly secret? Or a tale in which every book in the known Empire is destroyed—then recreated, page by page and book by book—all in the name of love and art?‘Siang Lu layers myth and reality into a marvelous structure. This is bold, inventive storytelling, a novel full of ideas that never loses its heart.’ Charles Yu, US National Book Award-winning author of Interior Chinatown\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"product__accordion accordion quick-add-hidden\"\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\u003cdetails id=\"Details-collapsible_tab_dDVEeR-template--25151688147283__main\"\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003csummary role=\"button\" aria-expanded=\"true\" aria-controls=\"ProductAccordion-collapsible_tab_dDVEeR-template--25151688147283__main\"\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003cdiv class=\"summary__title\"\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003ch2 class=\"h4 accordion__title inline-richtext\"\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tProduct Information\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003csvg class=\"icon icon-caret\" viewbox=\"0 0 10 6\"\u003e\u003cpath fill=\"currentColor\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M9.354.646a.5.5 0 0 0-.708 0L5 4.293 1.354.646a.5.5 0 0 0-.708.708l4 4a.5.5 0 0 0 .708 0l4-4a.5.5 0 0 0 0-.708\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\"\u003e\u003c\/path\u003e\u003c\/svg\u003e\n\t\t\u003c\/summary\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003cdiv class=\"accordion__content rte\" id=\"ProductAccordion-collapsible_tab_dDVEeR-template--25151688147283__main\"\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"metafield-multi_line_text_field\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Siang Lu\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eBinding:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardback\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eDate of Publication:\u003c\/b\u003e 13\/08\/2026\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003ePagination:\u003c\/b\u003e 304 pages\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eSeries:\u003c\/b\u003e N\/A\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eImprint:\u003c\/b\u003e Simon \u0026amp; Schuster Ltd\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003ePublished By:\u003c\/b\u003e Simon \u0026amp; Schuster Ltd\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eBook Classification:\u003c\/b\u003e Modern \u0026amp; contemporary fiction (post c 1945)\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/b\u003e 245 x 163 x 25\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eISBN13\/EAN\/SKU:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781398559875\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\u003c\/div\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\u003c\/details\u003e\n\t\t\t\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Siang Lu","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57006326907266,"sku":"9781398559875","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0568\/2180\/9347\/files\/9781398559875.jpg?v=1793295612","url":"https:\/\/mountfloridabooks.com\/products\/9781398559875","provider":"Mount Florida Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}