LIN YUTANG $4.95 Cody Wu a novel by YUTANG LIN This novel is based on the fascinating and often incredible life of Lady Wu, the cruel and pleasure-loving queen who created an empire of unparalleled des- potism in seventh-century China. Lady Wu was a unique character who combined criminality with enormous in- telligence. Her ambitions reached truly maniacal proportions, but her methods were always cool, precise and eminently sane. Utilizing charm and a series of atrocious murders, she rose from ob- scurity to become "Female Emperor/' Wu Lady retained her amazing vitality until her death at the age of eighty-three, and was notorious for maintaining a harem of paramours known as the "Stork Institute." But although she was responsible for a reign of terror and po- litical purges on a scale unequaled until our day, she was adored by her subjects for her beauty and intelligence. This story of an ambitious and ruth- less woman with her love for pageantry, her political intriguing and her amorous enthusiasms is told with the knowledge and skill that Lin Yutang's readers have come to expect and admire. jacket design/Jeanyee Wong G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK WU LADY BOOKS BY LIN YUTANG KAIMING ENGLISH BOOKS (3 Vols.) KAIMING ENGLISH GRAMMAR THE LITTLE CRITIC (2 vols.) CONFUCIUS SAW NANCY AND ESSAYS ABOUT NOTHING A NUN OF TAISHAN A HISTORY OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC OPINION IN CHINA MY COUNTRY AND MY PEOPLE THE IMPORTANCE OF LIVING WISDOM OF CONFUCIUS MOMENT IN PEKING WITH LOVE AND IRONY A LEAF IN THE STORM WISDOM OF CHINA AND INDIA BETWEEN TEARS AND LAUGHTER THE VIGIL OF A NATION THE GAY GENIUS CHINATOWN FAMILY WISDOM OF LAOTSE ON THE WISDOM OF AMERICA WIDOW, NUN AND COURTESAN FAMOUS CHINESE SHORT STORIES VERMILION GATE LOOKING BEYOND THE SECRET NAME THE CHINESE WAY OF LIFE FROM PAGAN TO CHRISTIAN THE IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING THE RED PEONY IMPERIAL PEKING PLEASURES OF A NONCONFORMIST JUNIPER LOA THE FLIGHT OF THE INNOCENTS LADY WU WU LADY NOVEL BY A Lw Yutang New York G. P. Putnam's Sons © Copyright 1965 by Lin Yutang All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, must not be repro- duced in any form without permission. Published simultaneously in the Dominion of Canada by Longmans Canada Limited, Toronto. Library of Congress Catalog Card: 65-13293 6 6 I PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA jL 73*6 La.