The Enchanting Lives of Others

By Can Xue

A celebration of the beguiling power of literature, from one of the world's greatest storytellers

At the Pigeon Book Club, a circle of readers joins in exhilarating meetings to discuss literature. The only requirements for entry are an all-encompassing love of books and an intuition that to read is to love and to love is to read. Xiao Sang, a department store clerk, wonders if life can ever be as captivating as a novel. Newlyweds Fei and Han Ma struggle to build a marriage as Han Ma discovers a surprising gift for storytelling. Xiao Ma, a hopeful dreamer, explores the possibility of romance with an older man. Bound by a shared passion for fiction, each book club member seeks to understand the relationship between the stories they read and the lives they lead, reveling in both the quotidian details and the ecstasy of aesthetics.

This is the most accessible work yet from the celebrated writer Can Xue: a utopian comedy and a work of profound joy, a love song to literary inspiration and the remarkable beauty of the ordinary. The Enchanting Lives of Others explores what it means to know and be known to others through the transformative power of reading.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 030028165X
• ISBN13: 9780300281651
• Release Date: February 2026
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 448 Pages