Born in 1954 in Nanjing and brought up in Shanghai, Wang Anyi was sent down to Anhui in 1970 during the Cultural Revolution and was assigned to a local performing arts troupe as a cellist, where she began her career as a writer.

Love in a Small Town is based on a true story which happened between a young man and a young girl of the Anhui performing arts troupe to which Wang Anyi belonged. But the story is also the author's personal exploration into human nature and human sexuality. Writing at a time when sex was still a taboo subject in China, Wang Anyi has shown uncommon courage as well as insight in her treatment of this tragic tale.