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The First Circle

Cixin Liu

1988580 pagesabout 9–13 hours
1988
first published
  • 1973Bantam Books · 674 pages · ENGISBN 9780553101119
  • 1979Fontana · 700 pages · ENGISBN 9780006157588
  • 1983Flamingo · 700 pages · ENGISBN 9780006540694
  • 1990Perennial Library · 580 pages · ENGISBN 9780060916831
  • 1997Northwestern University Press · 580 pages · ENGISBN 9780810115903
  • 2009Harper Perennial Modern Classics · 741 pages · ENGISBN 9780061479014
  • 1988Harvill PressISBN 9781860460906
  • 1968Harpercollins · 580 pagesISBN 9780060139490

Written from his own experiences this short novel focuses on the lives of a group of political prisoners held in a sharashka, a research & development laboratory near Moscow manned by engineers & technicians plucked from the gulags to perform work for the state.

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