Discussion keeps the world turning.
This is Roundtable.
Welcome to a bonus episode of Roundtable.
As China Marks National Reading Week, we at Roundtable have been sharing recommendations
from some of the country's most celebrated writers.
If you missed them, those earlier episodes are waiting for you.
And today we delve a bit deeper.
We don't just talk about these books, we step inside them.
Join us as we open two very different stories and let you see what lives within.
First, Dinner for Six by Lu Min, a novel that has already traveled to readers in many
other countries like Hungary and Serbia.
In this episode, we share an excerpt from its English edition.
With every step she took, time groaned and creaked backwards.
The leaves grew back on the trees.
The road became muddy again, and tears streaked her cheeks.
In 14 years, crossroads had changed beyond recognition.
The shop signs, the interiors, the shopkeepers, Marina's own reflection in the glass as she walked past.
Everything was different.
It was a completely new era.
There was new life in those shops, just as there was new life in her belly, the baby that would never know its father.