In this anthology by one of China's rising female authors, the philosophical concept of cause and effect is the main theme that echoes throughout this series of four Chinese novellas. In The Night of Rammusen an orphaned young woman explains the tragic demise of her beloved childhood friend in a written letter to her lover, weaving a heartbreaking tale of loyalty and betrayal. In The Trilogy, the reader is literally treated to three short stories, beginning with a ring so unique that it survives a cremation to be handed down from one owner to the next, cursing each life it touches. Next, we meet a young widow haunted by a cat from her childhood, and lastly, the changes of a little village forces one family to exhume the body of their dead relative to turn him into ashes. In There Is No If, Su De examines the lives of four flawed characters and their entwined destiny as a result of their actions. Finally, Consequences is the first of a two-part story about Daughter Three and her quest to find out where she came from and what and who caused her to be.
