A powerful and moving autobiography from an author with a truly original voice Anchee Min's Empress Orchid has been selected for Richard and Judy's Bookclub 2006 Reissued in a beautiful new cover design 'A riveting account' Amy Tan 'Mysterious and moving ... brave and uplifting' Independent on Sunday 'A beautifully written account of a mass psychosis and a testament to the courage, powers of survival and ability to love in appalling privations' Shena Mackay, Sunday Express

Anchee Min was born in Shanghai in 1957. As a child, she became a model member of the Red Guard. At seventeen she was sent to work on a communal farm, from which she was plucked by Madame Mao's associates to become a star of the Chinese propaganda film industry. After the death of Mao in 1976, Anchee Min was disgraced. She left China for the US in 1984; she now lives in California.