Radical

An etymological voyage that lives up to its title: radical in angle of attack, smart and brave. Making the urban condition of restlessness and pain into poetry

IAIN SINCLAIR, author of The Gold Machine

A wild, passionate, gorgeous book, wandering the borders of language and desire; walking cities and remembering the ghosts of past landscapes. Xiaolu Guo's books always open up new connections and curiosities for me. She is certainly among my favourite contemporary writers

AYSEGUL SAVAS, author of White on White

Xiaolu Guo is a writer like no other, and this is a memoir like no other

RANA MITTER, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China, University of Oxford

Guo's writing is tender and raw, and she creates a passionate, intimate vocabulary, exploring the complexity of belonging, nostalgia, and love

Skinny

[A] marvellous new memoir... [an] intellectually rich and stimulating journey

Guardian

A collection of poetic thoughts of what it means to belong... she [Guo] writes beautifully

Spectator

This book is so radically alive to everything that I could have sworn I felt it pulsating in my hands.

Devorah Baum

More than a memoir, it is as much about the skilful exploration of language as it is about a woman stepping outside her world, taking risks in a new territory

Observer, *Books of the Year*