Joyce Wadler

If I didn't know from the start that it is a true story, I would have thought it quite a daring piece of fiction. My admiration goes to the author, Joyce Wadler, who, as a journalist, does great credit to her profession - she meticulously unearthed all the unfathomable facts of this story and then tried to make sense of the bizarre and outlandish behavior of the two real protagonists.

This book tells how a low-level French embassy worker in Beijing met and fell in love with an opera singer he believed to be a woman, but who actually was a man. Over the years, the diplomat, Bernard Bouriscot, ends up passing diplomatic documents to the Chinese authorities so he can continue his affair with the singer. Eventually they are caught and end up serving brief prison terms. Wadler's book weaves an intriguing tale of obsession but ultimately doesn't answer why Bouriscot developed show more such a strong bond with Shi Pei Pu. The question of how he could have been misled about his lover's gender is dangled before the reader incessantly. An answer of sorts is given in the final pages but it doesn't seem fully plausible. The story is told mainly from Bouriscot's perspective -- he cooperated with the author and shared in the royalties. show less

I really wish the book had included more of the diplomatic / spy elements of this story and less of the mechanics of passing even while in bed. A page-turner of a story, though.