''Loving Sabotage'' () is a Belgian novel by

Amélie Nothomb Baroness Fabienne Claire Nothomb (; born 13 August 1967''État présent de la noblesse belge'', éditions of 1979, 1995 and 2010. Her birth is announced in n° 87, aout 1967, p. 340 of the ''Bulletin de l'association de la noblesse du royaume de ...

. It was first published in 1993 by the

Albin Michel Albin may refer to: Places * Albin, Wyoming, US * Albin Township, Brown County, Minnesota, US * Albin, Virginia, US People * Albin (given name), origin of the name and people with the first name "Albin" * Albin (surname) ;Mononyms * Albin of ...

Plot

The narrator of ''Loving Sabotage'' is a five-year-old girl who arrives in Beijing in 1972 as the daughter of a Belgian diplomat. She joins the other children in the diplomatic enclave, engaged in various nasty wars. She owns a bicycle, which she has convinced herself is a horse. She falls madly in love with a six-year-old Italian girl and attempts to gain the affections of cruel Elena. Based in part by Nothomb's own childhood experience in Beijing, the novel includes observations of China under the

Gang of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes due to th ...

and on the way Westerners perceived China.dannyreviews
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References

Fiction set in the 1970s 1993 Belgian novels French-language novels Novels by Amélie Nothomb Novels set in Beijing Éditions Albin Michel books {{Europe-novel-stub