Two sons of doctors, sent to 're-education' camps, forced to carry buckets of excrement up and down mountain paths, have only their sense of humour to keep them going. And not only their lives: after listening to the stories of Balzac, the little seamstress will never be the same again.Two sons of doctors, sent to 're-education' camps, forced to carry buckets of excrement up and down mountain paths, have only their sense of humour to keep them going. And not only their lives: after listening to the stories of Balzac, the little seamstress will never be the same again. Short-listed for Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2002.