Eileen Chang’s romantic classic Half a Lifelong Romance is finally getting a US release – and it only took half a lifetime! After 47 years without an English translation, Penguin translated the book late last year, with the US edition being published by Vintage Books next month.

The book has in the past been adapted for film – Ann Hui’s Eighteen Springs – when her work resurged in popularity in Hong Kong and Taiwan during the 80s and 90s. There is a rising awareness of Chang’s literature in the West partly thanks to that surge, which resulted in Ang Lee’s award-winning film adaptation of her novel Lust, Caution. Many Western universities now teach her short stories as part of their Chinese Literature programs.

Chang is the first Chinese woman published by Penguin Classics.