“A brilliant storyteller.” – Hilary Spurling

“This book cracks the code of love, loneliness, and belonging in contemporary China.” – Xiaolu Guo, author of Once Upon a Time in the East

“Reporting on four generations of one Chinese family and their diverging paths, Xinran shows how the country's social norms have changed through politics and the rise of modernity.” – New York Times

“Xinran Xue is a gifted storyteller and The Promise reads like an unputdownable novel. William Spence's translation from Chinese into English cannot be over-praised.” – Washington Book Review

“[A] graceful work that restores a lost generation to history.” – Kirkus Review

“Exploring love and loss in modern China is a big job but it is in simplifying the overwhelming that Xinran excels. And in the introduction to this compelling and moving book, the author clarifies just how she has managed the task...In these carefully told vignettes, Xinran takes the reader through a century of tumult and change in China, her writing beautifully reflecting the intimate and honest voices of the women whose stories of love she tells.” – The Weekend Australian

“'Xinran writes with a fine balance of economy, compassion and wisdom, and manages to be at once proud, critical, forward-looking, nostalgic, sad, angry and hopeful.'” – The New Statesman