Alexander and Alestria
by Shan Sa | 
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
by Lisa See | 
The Bonesetter's Daughter
by Amy Tan | 
The Kitchen God's Wife
by Amy Tan | 
The Hundred Secret Senses
by Amy Tan | 
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
by David Mitchell | 
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
by Dai Sijie | 
The Samurai's Garden
by Gail Tsukiyama | 
The Pearl That Broke Its Shell
by Nadia Hashimi | 
The Glass Palace
by Amitav Ghosh | 
Paris
by Edward Rutherfurd | 
Pachinko
by Min Jin Lee | 
The Lizard Cage
by Karen Connelly | 
The Valley of Amazement
by Amy Tan | 
China Dolls
by Lisa See | 
The Sand Pebbles
by Richard McKenna | 
Abundance
by Sena Jeter Naslund | 
Silk Road
by Colin Falconer | 
In a Dark Wood Wandering
by Hella S. Haasse | 
The Beautiful American
by Jeanne Mackin |
Such is the voice of Shan Sa's unforgettable heroine in her latest literary masterpiece, Empress. Empress Wu, one of China's most controversial figures, was its first and only female emperor, who emerged in the seventh century during the great Tang Dynasty and ushered in a golden age. Throughout history, her name has been defamed and her story distorted by those taking vengeance on a woman who dared to become emperor. But now, for the first time in thirteen centuries, Empress Wu (or Heavenlight, as we come to know her) flings open the gates of the Forbidden City and tells her own astonishing tale'??revealing a fascinating, complex figure who in many ways remains modern to this day. Writing with epic assurance, poetry, and vivid historic detail, Shan Sa plumbs the psychological and philosophical depths of what it means to be a striving mortal in a tumultuous, power-hungry world. Empress is a great literary feat and a revelation for the ages.