Xiaolu Guo

Communication is proving tricky for Ziao, a young woman fresh off the plane from China. When she finds herself pitched headlong into an affair, and living with her English boyfriend, she decides to write her very own dictionary, a Chinese-English dictionary for lovers. But will her new love survive the cultural chasms between East and West?

A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers

A charming and clever account of one woman's exploration of love, language and identity. Twenty-three-year-old Zhuang (or Z as she calls herself) arrives in London to spend a year learning English. Struggling to find her way in the city, and through the puzzles of tense, verb and adverb; she falls for an older Englishman and begins to realise that the landscape of love is an even trickier terrain... VINTAGE VOYAGES- A world of journeys, from the tallest mountains to the depths of the mind

Luc 

Mario Menti 

Really enjoyed this touching and often laugh-out-loud funny novel.
It's about love, about language and translation, and then differences of thinking in Chinese and English. And some of her observations, especially about English food, from the perspective of a newly arrived visitor from China are hilarious.

Twenty-three-year-old Zhuang (or Z as she calls herself) arrives in London to spend a year learning English. Struggling to find her way in the city, and through the puzzles of tense, verb and adverb; she falls for an older Englishman and begins to realise that the landscape of love is an even trickier terrain...

Katarzyna Karpinska

I like the concept of the book. The main character comes to London to learn English, hence at the beginning her Chinese-English is crude and not intentionally funny. While when the action progresses it becomes more sophisticated and conceptual. I also enjoy reflections on the language, eg. on the tenses. But I have to admit that both of main characters are so whiny and apathetic that it was hard for me to finish the lecture. Not the best book of young girl's education.

Sage Lee

Kwan Ann Tan

Jessie

Shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction Twenty-three-year-old Zhuang (or Z as she calls herself - Westerners cannot pronounce her name) arrives in London to spend a year learning English. Struggling to find her way in the city, and through the puzzles of tense, verb and adverb; she falls for an older Englishman and begins to realise that the landscape of love is an even trickier terrain... Xiaolu Guo was named as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists