Becoming Madame Mao

'Mao makes her see heaven's grace in his valour. In bed he is impatient, like a tomb robber grabbing gold. She presents herself, the gift of seduction. In the future the couple will do the same to the minds of a billion.' Madame Mao is the 'white-boned demon', the woman many hold directly responsible for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution. Moving with assurance from the intimately personal to the broader stage of world history, Anchee Min tells the stirring, erotically charged story of this extraordinary woman. With lush psychological insight, Min penetrates the myth surrounding Madame Mao and creates a finely nuanced, always ambiguous portrait of a woman driven by ambition, betrayal, and a never-to-be-fulfilled need to be loved. Becoming Madame Mao exists with all the compressed drama and high lyrical poetry of great opera.