The heroine is sold by her dead father's brother into marriage with a brutal butcher much older than she.

He dominates her sexually and takes pleasure in frightening her in various ways, including a visit to the slaughterhouse, after which the heroine in a disoriented state of mind murders him with a butcher's blade.

Li Ang is known for her idiosyncratic, candid and penetrating insights on gender politics in the social life in contemporary Taiwan.

Her bold and successive broaching of subjects bordering on the taboo within the cultural context of Taiwan has earned her extensive critical acclaim both in the world of Chinese letters and internationally.

Translated into different languages and published worldwide, many of her works have been reviewed by leading newspapers in many countries, including The New York Times, and made into films and T.V.