中文提要
故事主要圍繞著民國時代的上海和南京發生，主線是顧曼楨和沈世鈞之間的愛情故事：因工作而初識、戀情熾熱、訂婚，及至因雙方家庭問題而棄約，棄約之後，再因種種誤會及他人的挑撥，引向故事高潮。然後，沈世鈞娶了他不愛的人，顧曼楨則因不得己的原因，先與一個她最憎惡的人結婚，再棄婚。及尾聲，兩人歷盡千帆後再相遇，卻惟有感慨萬千：「世鈞，我們回不去了。」
Publisher: Penguin Classics
English summary:
From one of twentieth-century China's greatest writers and the author of Lust, Caution, this is an unforgettable story of a love affair set in 1930s Shanghai.
Manjing is a young worker in a Shanghai factory, where she meets Shujun, the son of wealthy merchants. Despite family complications, they fall in love and begin to dream of a shared life together - until circumstances force them apart. When they are reunited after a separation of many years, can they start their relationship again? Or is it destined to be the romance of only half a lifetime? This affectionate and captivating novel tells the moving story of an enduring love affair, and offers a fascinating window onto Chinese life in the first half of the twentieth century.
張愛玲（1920年9月30日－1995年9月8日），著名汉语现代女作家，祖籍河北丰润。本名张煐，後因入學需要，母親黃逸梵（又名黃素瓊）以英文名Eileen譯音，易名愛玲。
祖母李菊藕是李鸿章長女，父亲張志沂为清朝末年著名大臣张佩纶的儿子，母亲黃逸梵是清末长江七省水师提督黄翼升之孫女，即黄宗炎的女儿，繼母孫用蕃是北洋政府國務總理孫寶琦的女兒。因此，张爱玲出生名门，受到了极好的教育。上海淪陷时期，陸續發表《沉香屑?第一爐香》、《傾城之戀》、《心經》、《金锁记》等中、短篇小说，震動上海文壇。1952年张爱玲以完成未完成的学业为名离开中国大陆，其后赴美。在美国期间翻译了清代吳語小说《海上花列傳》（韓邦慶所著），又寫了文學評論《紅樓夢魘》。張愛玲一生见证了中国近现代史，漂泊于上海、香港、天津、美国各地，最后在美国定居，并与1960年取得美国国籍。早在之前，1956年时，张爱玲就已经和大自己29岁的德裔美国人赖雅结婚，赖雅逝世后，张爱玲在美国终老，1995年，张爱玲因为动脉硬化心血管病去世于美国加利福尼亚州韦斯特伍德市罗彻斯特大道的公寓，享年74岁。
Eileen Chang was born in Shanghai in 1920. She studied literature at the University of Hong Kong but returned to Shanghai in 1941 during the Japanese occupation, where she established her reputation as a literary star. She moved to America in 1955 and died in Los Angeles in 1995.Karen S. Kingsbury taught and studied in Chinese-speaking cities for nearly two decades, and currently lives in Pennsylvania, USA. She has translated Love in a Fallen City for Penguin Classics, as well as other essays and stories by Chang.'A giant of modern Chinese literature' The New York Times'Eileen Chang is the fallen angel of Chinese literature' Ang Lee'A dazzling and distinctive fiction writer' New York Times Book Review'Chang's world is a stark and mysterious place where people strive to find their way in love but often fail under the pressures of family, tradition, and reputation' New Yorker
