History and legend combine brilliantly in Simon Elegant's bawdy "autobiographical" account of China's famed rabble-rousing versemaker Li Po. On a lavishly outfitted river barge in ancient China, a studious young vintner's son takes down the life story of the extraordinary Tang Dynasty poet-in-exile, none other than the "Banished Immortal" himself, the great Li Po.

Li Po relives his outlandish adventures, from riding on the back of an enormous eagle to working for a brutal butcher as a Pigboy-in-training, and struggling to make his mark at the court of China's most glorious emperor. He rails against all that conspires to restrain him: the philosophy of "that pietistic old prater Confucius, " the elaborate rules governing the composition of verse, the rigid examinations required to obtain an official post, and the greedy emperors whose expansionism leads China into a period of rebellion and catastrophe.

A Floating Life is a magnificent portrayal of a critical time in China's history and the life of a literary legend. Nearly thirteen hundred years after the fact, Simon Elegant's scrupulously researched novel captures the essence of the eccentric bard of spontaneous verse -- lover of birds, breast milk, courtesans, tavern songs and wine -- in fullest splendor and bravado.