From the author of the award winning Smoke and Mirrors
Welcome to Pallavi Aiyar's website. Pallavi is an Indian journalist and author of the Vodafone-Crossword Award winning book, Smoke and Mirrors: An Experience of China. After a six-year-long stint in Beijing she now lives in Brussels where she reports on Europe. Her first novel, Chinese Whiskers was published in early 2011. Dutch and Italian editions are now in bookstores as well. The U.S. edition, published by St Martins Press has just been released. Here is the Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Whiskers-Pallavi-Aiyar/dp/1250014484
Chinese Whiskers is a modern fable and a window to the rhythm and texture of life in the hutongs of Beijing as seen through the eyes of two cats-- Tofu and Soyabean.
Interweaving real episodes in recent Chinese history such as the SARS virus and tainted pet-food scandals with a richly imagined world, this heartwarming story of cats and humans will make you laugh and tear up, and think again about the battles that we all fight between the corruption of modern living and the ideals of traditional life.
Read an interview with Pallavi about the novel on the China Beat:
http://www.thechinabeat.org/?p=2935