The book Balzac and the Chinese Seamstress is a tiny, small, almost insignificant book in terms of size, but a very beautiful book in terms of its content and a great book in terms of the power of its words. The story takes place during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, when the persecution and imprisonment of intellectuals was widespread, and the re-education of young people was a "necessity". A seventeen-year-old boy, the son of Chinese intellectuals, must go to a backward mountain village for "re-education" with his friend Luo, who is a year older than him. The people there have never heard of the violin that the friends bring with them, or of Balzac, whose stories they masterfully tell the villagers. While working in the garage, their imagination, youthful ingenuity, and storytelling win the favor of the elders and the locals, especially the Seamstress, with whom they both fall in love...