The novel tells the story of a young French girl living in Colonial French Indochina during the early 1930s. As her family's fortunes decline, she begins a sexual relationship with a much older Chinese man who, in turn, financially supports the family. The affair scandalizes society but is pursued with reckless abandon for about eighteen months. Finally, the girl and her family return to France, permanently ending the relationship. The girl's family then goes through a period of upheaval in pre-war, German-occupied, and, later, liberated Paris. The girl narrates the novel from the perspective of years and life experience.
The novel is generally considered highly autobiographical in nature. In c. 1983, the unnamed narrator, an aged woman living in Paris, considers her history as a fifteen-year-old girl living in French Indochina during c. 1929. Her father was.....
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