Wild Ginger by Anchee Min
'In my memory she has a pair of foreign-colored eyes. The pupils were yellow with a hint of green. They reminded me of a wildcat.' Wild Ginger is the intense and erotic love story of Maple and Wild Ginger, set against the brutal backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution. A naive and poetic parable, Maple sees her school friend Wild Ginger become the star of the Little Red Guards. In a time and place where sexual relations are not allowed, Wild Ginger denies her desire for Evergreen - but Maple has less strict scruples. When Maple and Evergreen plan to leave Shanghai together for a life in rural China, Maple underestimates both Wild Ginger's feelings of betrayal and the horrific way she will use her political power to stop them...