瑪格麗特·德拉布爾，英國當代最有影響力的女作傢之一。自上世紀60年代起開始文

學創作，迄今為止已有多部反映女性心聲、探問女性理想生活道路的優秀小說問世。代錶作有《夏日鳥籠》、《磨礪》、《金色的耶路撒冷》等。她曾擔任英國國傢圖書聯盟的主席，主持編輯瞭《牛津英國文學辭典》，在文學界享有相當的權威。獲得過布萊剋紀念奬、愛·摩·福斯特奬、萊斯文學奬等多項文學大奬，並因其卓越的文學成就於1980年獲英國最高級巴忍爵士頭銜（CBE）。

Barbara Halliwell, on a grant at Oxford, receives an unexpected package-a memoir by a Korean crown princess, written more than two hundred years ago. A highly appropriate gift for her impending trip to Seoul. But from whom?

The story she avidly reads on the plane turns out to be one of great intrigue as well as tragedy. The Crown Princess Hyegyong recounts in extraordinary detail the ways of the Korean court and confesses the family dramas that left her childless and her husband dead by his own hand. Perhaps it is the loss of a child that resonates so deeply with Barbara . . . but she has little time to think of such things, she has just arrived in Korea.

She meets a certain Dr. Oo, and to her surprise and delight he offers to guide her to some of the haunts of the crown princess. As she explores the inner sanctums and the royal courts, Barbara begins to feel a strong affinity for everything related to the princess and her mysterious life.

After a brief, intense, and ill-fated love affair, she returns to London. Is she ensnared by the events of the past week, of the past two hundred years, or will she pick up her life where she left it? A beautifully told and ingeniously constructed novel, this is Margaret Drabble at her best.