The Last Lover

‘A maverick outsider, the Chinese writer Can Xue described herself in a recent interview as ''an experimental novelist with a strongly philosophical temperament''.True enough, but nothing in that bland label would prepare you for the mind-stretching enchantments of The Last Lover, one of the first of her large-scale works to appear in English. . .Translated by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen with all the hallucinatory clarity that her prose demands, Can Xue guides us through that bewitching place.’—Boyd Tonkin, The Independent ~Boyd Tonkin, The Independent

“[A] mind-bending novel . . . Xue succeeds in creating a unique, immersive, tale of ‘intersecting dreamworlds.’”—Publishers Weekly

~Publishers Weekly

“[Can Xue] has found not just a new direction but a new dimension to move in, a realm where conscious beings experience space, time, and each other unbound from the old rules . . . [The Last Lover] is arguably a singular accomplishment.”—Nell Pach, Music and Literature

~Nell Pach, Music and Literature

“One of the most raved-about works of translated fiction this year”—Jonathan Sturgeon, Flavorwire (“10 New Translated Books to Read Right Now”)

~Jonathan Sturgeon, Flavorwire

‘Funny, bizarre, improbable yet oddly moving, her stories in The Last Lover often arise from the mutual fantasies of East and West. They can sometimes bring Kafka, Ishiguro or Calvino to mind. In the end, though, Can Xue commands a truly unique voice.’—Boyd Tonkin, The Independent.

~Boyd Tonkin, The Independent

The Independent’s Book of the Year, 2014

~Book of the Year, The Independent

“[Can Xue] sheds the constraints of reality for the peculiarly detailed realm of the imagination. The Last Lover is a skillful, enigmatic investigation of love that swells and subverts traditional narratives.”—Alex McElroy, Colorado Review

~Alex McElroy, Colorado Review

Winner of the 2015 Best Translated Book Award, fiction category -- organized by Three Percent, a resource for international literature based at the University of Rochester.

~Best Translation Book Award, Three Percent

Longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2015 given by Booktrust.

~Prize, The Independent Foreign Fiction

Longlisted for the 2015 American Literary Translators Asssociation, National Translation Prize in Prose. 

~National Translation Association, NTA