Liaison

In 1982, French diplomat Bernard Boursicot was arrested for passing intelligence information from his embassy in Beijing to Chinese opera singer Pei Pu. Boursicot claimed that he had spied in order to protect Pei Pu from punishment by the Chinese government when it was discovered that Pei Pu was his lover and the mother of his son. But investigation revealed that Pei Pu was in fact a man. Claiming an adopted child as his and Boursicot's, Pei Pu had successfully deceived Boursicot, in and out of bed, for 18 years. Wadler ( My Breast ) has written a vivid account of this bizarre story, drawing on interviews with Boursicot, Pei Pu and more than 100 of their friends and colleagues. Boursicot, a bisexual who has admitted to scores of love affairs, and Pei Pu have both served time in prison for espionage. And while their duplicitous lives are richly detailed here, their true natures remain a mystery. Photos not seen by PW. M. Butterfly will soon be released as a film. (Sept.)