Oceane, a French girl, met Du Meixi, a Chinese sailor, at a cafe in Marseilles in 1925 and followed him to Shanghai to inherit his family's silk business nearly 15 years later.

But as war and hunger invaded their lives, the couple tried to deal with the situation with as much dignity as possible, finally departing during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).

This is from The Eye of the Dragonfly, a novel by Cao Wenxuan, who is the first winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award from China. The novel debuted in People's Literature magazine in June and was published more recently as an individual book by Phoenix Juvenile and Children's Publishing.