A Chinese Affair

"These sixteen stories present characters who share much, yet all are unique. As if in a kaleidoscope, they continue to be revealed and reinterpreted in different lights and from different angles. Isabelle Li's prose is powerful, exquisite and finely tuned, and each story draws us deeper into the complex emotional and cultural dilemmas of characters who are solitary, sensitive, perceptive, sometimes all at once. A Chinese Affair is a beautiful book, elegant and accomplished, and a triumph of the art of the short story." - Debra Adelaide

"Isabelle Li's stories surprise us with the secrets they reveal, the sensations they convey and the depth of feeling they release. Finely crafted, bitter-sweet, boldly coloured, they mark the arrival of an important presence in the creative flow between China and Australia." - Nicholas Jose