In her story divided into three periods, like three acts in a theatre play, the author weaves together the fates of Xiao Chen, Cinder-feet, River-mist and Li Mei. Xiao Chen, son of a potter, is forced to flee his village because of a curse. He joins a company of travelling comedians with whom he wanders across 3rd-century China and beyond.

I thought the story was a very pleasant to read. Beyond a rather trope-y overture scene that brought to my mind Lian Hearn's Across the Nightingale Floor, Estelle Faye paints an original story, drawing from China's history and legends. The tone is almost that of a fairy tale, thanks to a good balance of surnatural and natural elements, and the characters are well-rounded.

Yet I had some reservations regarding their descriptions, and the importance of physical beauty that is tirelessly repeated. Admittedly, it's an important theme of the novel, that sometimes reminds the reader of Beauty and the Beast, but to me it lacked a little subtelty. I also cringed at the sometimes repetitive way of designating characters, but most of the time this was lost in otherwise elegant style, both simple and evocative. I enjoyed all the details of life in a travelling company, which really plunged me in the characters' daily life.