Forbidden City

A Novel

By: Vanessa Hua

Narrated by: Catherine Ho

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A teenage girl living in 1960s China becomes Mao Zedong’s protégée and lover—and a heroine of the Cultural Revolution—in this “masterful” (The Washington Post) novel.

“A new classic about China’s Cultural Revolution . . . Think Succession, but add death and mayhem to the palace intrigue. . . . Ambitious and impressive.”—San Francisco Chronicle

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, PopSugar • Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize

On the eve of China’s Cultural Revolution and her sixteenth birthday, Mei dreams of becoming a model revolutionary. When the Communist Party recruits girls for a mysterious duty in the capital, she seizes the opportunity to escape her impoverished village. It is only when Mei arrives at the Chairman’s opulent residence—a forbidden city unto itself—that she learns that the girls’ job is to dance with the Party elites. Ambitious and whip-smart, Mei beelines toward the Chairman.

Mei gradually separates herself from the other recruits to become the Chairman’s confidante—and paramour. While he fends off political rivals, Mei faces down schemers from the dance troupe who will stop at nothing to take her place and the Chairman’s imperious wife, who has secret plans of her own.

When the Chairman finally gives Mei a political mission, she seizes it with fervor, but the brutality of this latest stage of the revolution makes her begin to doubt all the certainties she has held so dear.

Forbidden City is an epic yet intimate portrayal of one of the world’s most powerful and least understood leaders during this extraordinarily turbulent period in modern Chinese history. Mei’s harrowing journey toward truth and disillusionment raises questions about power, manipulation, and belief, as seen through the eyes of a passionate teenage girl.

©2022 Vanessa Hua (P)2022 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“In . . . her masterful new novel Forbidden City, Vanessa Hua reflects that ‘fiction flourishes where the official record ends.’ Her novel bears this out: Hua dares to pen the story of the women who fought, sacrificed and endured during China’s Cultural Revolution. . . . Sweeping . . . [Hua’s] novel is eye-opening, vital and timely now more than ever.”—The Washington Post

“Make room for a new classic about China’s Cultural Revolution. . . . Think ‘Succession,’ but add death and mayhem to the palace intrigue. . . . The echoes [of time] I heard in Forbidden City—narcissistic leadership, a revenge-thirsty body politic, women and girls treated as things—both unsettled and compelled me to consider the present anew. I can think of no higher praise for this ambitious and impressive novel.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Ambitious . . . [Hua is a] quietly unstoppable author.”—Nob Hill Gazette

Great fictional look into Mao's Court.

The author delivers an excellent story about China's Cultural Revolution period. The main character's journey is an interesting one. The narration isn't bad, though it starts out rather stilted.

Entertaining and Enlightening

The author brings to life some interesting aspects of the cultural revolution in China, the swim in the Yangtze which sadly unleashed the brutality of the Cultural revolution as well as the abhorrent abuse of young women by Mao Zedong.

Starts slow, reward as story unfolds

Names of characters difficult to recall at beginning of book. Looked up reviews on this book to get more information before proceeding. A worthwhile read if you stick with it. It grows in interest as it moves through the history of the cultural revolution in china. Found it very enlightening as a historical novel.

Did not love this book

I heard the author speaking on NPR when this book was released. I thought it sounded great, very interesting! I love historical fiction. But I found the story very disturbing and kind of redundant. The narrator also really bothered me. I didn’t really care about the main character.