Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie; translated by Ina Rilke:
Luo and I are not yet twenty when we arrive on Phoenix mountain to be “re-educated” in 1971 China. There we toil in the fields among uneducated villagers, but life grants us a pearl: the little seamstress. At first Luo says she’s “too uncivilized” for him, but we solve that by telling her Balzac stories of high Parisian life. For her we brave dangerous journeys and steal contraband books in literary novel BALZAC AND THE LITTLE CHINESE SEAMSTRESS. In return she leaves us for the city, taking her “priceless treasure,” her beauty, with her. Oh, the books? Those we burn.
[100 words]
NOTE: The above is a sample pitch, categorized by type of fiction, that I wrote for instructional purposes only. This “pitch” was written after the book was published and was never used by the author or anyone else to actually pitch a book.
© 2018 Ann Henry, all rights reserved.