Kinder Than Solitude

Kinder Than Solitude
Yiyun Li

The new novel from Yiyun Li, author of The Vagrants and the Guardian First Book Award-winning A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.When Moran, Ruyu, and Boyang were young, they were involved in a mysterious ‘accident’ in which a young woman was poisoned. Now grown up, the three friends are separated by this incident, and by time and distance. Boyang stayed in China, while Moran and Ruyu emigrated to the United States. All three remain haunted by what really happened.A breathtaking page-turner, Kinder Than Solitude resonates with provocative observations about human nature and the virtues of loyalty. In mesmerizing prose, and with profound philosophical insight, Yiyun Li unfolds this remarkable story, even as she explores the impact of personality and the past on the shape of a person’s present and future.

Copyright (#ulink_1d561cbb-8db2-56ed-b0fd-4801dd402678)

Fourth Estate

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

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London, SE1 9GF

www.4thestate.co.uk (http://www.4thestate.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by Fourth Estate in 2014

First published in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York

Copyright © 2014 by Yiyun Li

Yiyun Li asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Cover photograph © Giulia Fiori / Getty Images

Designed by Kate Gaughran

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Source ISBN: 9780007329823

Ebook Edition © February 2014 ISBN: 9780007357109

Version: 2015-01-14

To Dapeng, Vincent, and James

You can’t both live and have lived, my dear Christophe.

Romain Rolland, Jean-Christophe

Table of Contents

Cover (#u94703c98-efde-5002-b019-1296795fddf3)

Title Page (#u1c1e3583-16eb-5332-bc46-9d2ae93d73b5)

Copyright (#ua2c4a546-f5ef-5ac3-9bd6-cffec7133f2f)

Dedication (#udb332a38-2d88-583d-a051-a645f53c9a16)

Epigraph (#uf728a705-c467-5628-85ba-2cecf8cdc731)

Chapter 1 (#ud403cc57-ef17-5524-aab5-18a0851c2ee7)

Chapter 2 (#u13137f12-ac2b-5033-abe5-997905a417ed)

Chapter 3 (#u8d000627-b5cf-590d-8889-1dbda53a22db)

Chapter 4 (#u48eeb3b3-32b2-55b8-9c4d-9efddebe02b4)

Chapter 5 (#u581d633b-0fda-59e9-8ade-a604d7dd3302)

Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 19 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 20 (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgments (#litres_trial_promo)