"Olivia Milburn has given us a delicious romp through history, this time in her sprightly translation of selections from the romance by the late Ming moralist Feng Menglong. The intrigues retold by Feng became the stuff of edifying proverbs in China and they became so celebrated in Europe that Voltaire adapted one for the Parisian theater. Now, at last, readers can feel the magic in this marvelous translation of an acclaimed book."--Michael Nylan, Sather Professor of History, UC Berkeley "Written by the great master of vernacular literature Feng Menglong, Xin Leiguozhi is one of the finest examples of China's tradition of historical fiction. In this abridged edition, Milburn has selected the vast novel's most exciting episodes and presents them in a rollicking translation that does full justice to the original work."--Wilt L. Idema, Professor Emeritus of Chinese Literature, Harvard University