Shan Sa

Empress is a French biographical novel written by Shan Sa, a French author who was born in Beijing. It is based on the life of Empress Wu Zetian.

As the Japanese military invades 1930s Manchuria, a young girl approaches her own sexual coming of age. Drawn into a complex triangle with two boys, she distracts herself from the onslaught of adulthood by playing the game of go with strangers in a public square--and yet the force of desire, like the occupation, …