The notion that the formerly mighty American publisher Reader's Digest would allow the Chinese Communist party to censor its novels would once have appeared so outrageous as to be unimaginable.
In the globalized world, what was once unimaginable is becoming commonplace, however. The Australian novelist L.A. "Louisa" Larkin has learned the hard way that old certainties no longer apply as the globalization of trade leads to the globalization of authoritarian power. The fate of her book is more than a lesson in modern cynicism. It is the most resonant example of collaboration between the old enemies of communism and capitalism I have encountered.
Larkin published "Thirst" in 2012. She set her thriller in an Antarctic research station, where mercenaries besiege a team of scientists. Larkin was delighted when Reader's Digest said it would take her work for one of its anthologies of condensed novels.