One Year, that's what they agreed upon. That's why she worked so hard to please him. That's why she did everything in her power to help him and his people. So she could live her second life, the way she wanted. In peace. One Year, they promised each other. To live a life as husband and wife. One Year, to convince everyone that they were a loving couple. One Year, to gather information on his enemies. One Year, to gather as much support and power from the royal court to his side. One Year, of playing pretend and fooling the whole Kingdom of their fake love story. Little did she know, it only took One Year for him to fall in love with her. Will he keep to his word of One Year? Or go back on it and break their promise?

This is my attempt at an English translation of the Chinese book "Memoirs Of A Palace Maid". "Memoirs Of A Palace Maid" 《宫女谈往录》is a book published by the Forbidden City Press in July 1992. The authors are Jin Yi and Shen Yiling. The book contains the memoirs of Rong, a palace maid who spent eight years serving Empress Dowager Cixi in the Forbidden City in the late Qing Dynasty. Rong entered palace service when she was thirteen. At age 18, she was given to an eunuch in marriage by Empress Dowager Cixi. Her life was sad and quiet, punctuated by turmoil and suffering. In her aging years, she spoke intimately about life in the Forbidden City. Her memoirs reveal details about Empress Dowager Cixi's day-to-day routines, little known events in Emperor Guangxu's life and touches on the humiliation and anguish of the eunuchs. I read the Chinese book a few years ago while doing research into the lives of women in the Forbidden City. Recently, I looked up the book again and noticed there was no English translation of the book. (If there is an official English translation, please let me know!) The memoir offers an intimate inside perspective of the Forbidden City that is rarely available in historical documentaries and books. I thought it was a shame that the knowledge in this book wasn't available to English readers. This is my naive attempt to translate the book into English.