The story of UNDER THE HAWTHORN TREE is a complicated one. It began in the late seventies, right after the devastation of the Cultural Revolution, when a young girl, Jingqiu, fell in love with a boy nicknamed Laosan. Jingqiu is from a politically suppressed family, while Laosan is the son of a mighty army general. She knew there’d no hope for them, but Three did everything within his power to protect her and finally won her heart. Their budding romance was cut short by fate, as Laosan had leukemia and died before there could be any ending for them, happy or otherwise.

 

Later, Jingqiu would leave China for the United States, eventually becoming a university professor. She got married, and had a daughter, but she could never forget Laosan, the man who loved her with a passion so pure and steadfast that she believed it could last forever. Then Jingqiu met Ai Mi, another Chinese immigrant who writes online. She decided to give Ai Mi her diaries and notebooks, hoping she would give voice to her story, never imagining it would become the phenomenon it is today.

 

Ai Mi started posting UNDER THE HAWTHORN TREE online in 2007, and it quickly became the reading sensation of the year.

Capel & Land will co-agent with The Grayhawk Agency and Barbara J Zitwer Agency.

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