The Moon Over the Mountain

The Maiden’s Bookshelf series combines classic short stories of the early 20th century with gorgeous original artwork to create collectible editions for a contemporary audience.

At what cost art?

In the course of a routine journey, government inspector Yuan Can encounters his old friend Li Zheng—but not as he remembers him. Transformed by obsession into a hideous beast, Li Zheng spins a tragic tale, and ultimately presents his confidante with a singular request.

Dressed in the trappings of 8th-century China, Atsushi Nakajima’s meditation on poetry and friendship nevertheless transcends time and language to speak directly to our hearts about what it means to be human.

14+Atsushi Nakajima (1909-1942) was a unique voice in early 20th-century Japanese literature. Born into a family of Confucian scholars, his stories often drew on classical Chinese sources, which he in turn imbued with his own blend of introspection and existentialism. He died of asthma at the age of 33, leaving behind a small but powerful body of work, of which “The Moon Over the Mountain” is the most famous.