Cao Wenxuan, author of the acclaimed Bronze and Sunflower, is the recipient of the 2016 Hans Christian Andersen Award. He has also won several of China's important awards for children's literature. A professor of Chinese literature at Peking University, Cao Wenxuan has seen many of his books become bestsellers in China, and his work has been translated into French, Russian, German, Japanese, and Korean.

"An Mei has always been close to her French grandmother Nainai, and is proud to look like her. But in their home city of Shanghai, many people are suspicious of their European heritage and looks. Politics and war make 1960s Shanghai a difficult place to grow up, especially when the family silk business is given over to the government and they are left with their beloved home and little else. Ah Mei and her grandmother suffer, but they are resourceful and have each other, and the tenderness they share brings them great strength"--Dust jacket flap.