Description

A celebration of the beguiling power of literature, from one of the world’s greatest storytellers

At the Pigeon Book Club, a circle of readers gathers for exhilarating meetings to discuss literature. The only requirements for entry are an all-encompassing love of books and the intuition that to read is to love and to love is to read. Xiao Sang, a department store clerk, wonders if life can ever be as captivating as a novel. Newlyweds Fei and Han Ma struggle to build a marriage as Han Ma discovers a surprising gift for storytelling. Xiao Ma, a hopeful dreamer, explores the possibility of romance with an older man. Bound by a shared passion for fiction, each book club member seeks to understand the relationship between the stories they read and the lives they lead, reveling in both the quotidian details and the ecstasy of aesthetics.

This is the most accessible work yet from the celebrated writer Can Xue: a utopian comedy and a work of profound joy, a love song to literary inspiration and the remarkable beauty of the ordinary. The Enchanting Lives of Others explores what it means to know and be known to others through the transformative power of reading.

Publisher Review

Irish Times, Best Fiction of 2026 to Look Forward To

“Visionary, uncanny, yet down-to-earth, Can Xue’s voice is unique in Chinese, and global, fiction. This moving, magical novel celebrates the transformative power of literature itself-and shows why great readers make great lovers.”-Boyd Tonkin, author of The 100 Best Novels in Translation

“Are there differences between perceiving, remembering, imagining, and dreaming? And which do we use while reading? Can Xue writes as if the boundaries between these activities barely exist. In The Enchanting Lives of Others, her characters glide between mind-states: as fictional constructs of a writer’s psyche; as readers of invented novels; as dreamers of the author’s imagination. This novel places its readers in an almost surreal space within Can Xue’s fictional gymnastics-and submitting to her method reveals astonishing insights into the elasticity of the mind.”-Nick Barley, director, National Poetry Centre, United Kingdom

“Can Xue’s novelscape transforms how readers and writers are rearranged through passages and passageways of living, though who are the readers? Who are the writers?-you and I, the novel’s characters, or both? This book is a singular gem.”-Martine Bellen, author of An Anatomy of Curiosity

“In this masterful novel, Can Xue invites readers on a journey through layers of meaning. As this book unfolds its wilder, more fantastical elements, the reader is invited to reassess their understanding of the very core of what it means to be human. The Enchanting Lives of Others is both an excellent starting point for anyone interested in Can Xue’s work, and a wonderful addition to her English-language oeuvre.”-Chad W. Post, Open Letter Books