The Moon Opera — Bi Feiyu

This “gem of a novel . . . gives us a glimpse not only into the Chinese opera world but deep into a woman's heart” (Lisa See, author of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane).
 
Twenty years ago, in a fit of diva jealousy, Xiao Yanqiu, star of The Moon Opera, violently assaulted her understudy. Spurned by the troupe, she turned to teaching.
 
Now, a rich cigarette-factory boss has offered to underwrite a restaging of the cursed opera -- but only on the condition that Xiao Yanqiu return to the role of Chang'e. So she does, this time believing she has fully become the immortal moon goddess . . .
 
Set against the drama, intrigue, jealousy, retribution, and redemption of backstage Peking opera, this “tiny, perfect novel [with] distant echoes of All About Eve” is a stunning portrait of women in a world that simultaneously reveres and restricts them (The Times, London).