during the Civil Rights movement in the U.S. in the early 1960s. The burden of second-hand guilt lay heavy on my friend, and he moved to Hong Kong and refused to return to America. Then, he was killed in an accident. Looking back, I think I started writing the novel a few years after his death in order to play out his story and give it an ending." References Nicole Mones' official website: Lost In Translation: http://www.nicolemones.com/books/lost-in-translation/ Book review by Julie Checkoway on BookPage: http://bookpage.com/reviews/173-nicole-mones-lost-translation#.Vpjf5hXhDIU Book review by Lisa See on The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/20/reviews/980920.20seelt.html Online blog "Land of Books" by Ognian Georgiev. Interview with Nicole Mones: http://landofbooks.org/2015/03/29/nicole-mones-night-in-shanghai-took-me-five-years/ 1999 American novels Novels set in China Interpreting and translation in fiction Works about translation