FOOL FOR LOVE

by Mingmei Yip

A contemporary Chinese author asked, “What is love, is it to hold hands till we die?”

Three thousand years ago in a book called the CLASSIC OF SONGS, an anonymous poet said something similar, “I’ll hold your hand and grow old with you.”

That’s what we mortals want for love – someone to love us and shelter us through rain and storm till the end. It is because of this desire for true and eternal love that we’re also given false promises and often thrust on a path of futile pursuit.

Love can make fools of us all.

Lily Lin, the protagonist in my last novel, SONG OF THE SILK ROAD, is such a person – falling hopelessly in love with a married man who has a child. Of course the man holds out the possibility of marriage to lure her to warm his hotel bed. Lily continues to make a fool of herself until she meets Alex Luce, a fellow adventurer on the Silk Road. Even though she knows Alex truly loves her, she still can’t leave her married lover for the younger Alex. It takes a near-fatal accident in the Go-In-But-Never-Come-Out Taklamakan Desert, when Alex risks his life to retrieve her precious necklace, that Lily finally realizes she has been a fool for love. ♥



Mingmei Yip’s upcoming novel, SKELETON WOMEN (Kensington Books, June 2012), is a story about a singer/spy, a magician and a gossip columnist, all scheming to survive the gang wars in the thirties Shanghai.  Her previous books include, SONG OF THE SILK ROAD, PEACH BLOSSOM PAVILION and PETALS FROM THE SKY.  Mingmei also wrote and illustrated the CHINESE CHILDREN'S FAVORITE STORIES (Tuttle). She is now working on her second children’s book. In Hong Kong, Mingmei was a columnist for seven major newspapers. She has appeared on over 60 TV and radio programs in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and the US. Visit her at http://www.mingmeiyip.com/.