一个穆斯林家族，六十年间的兴衰，三代人命运的沉浮，两个发生在不同时代、有着不同内容却又交错扭结的爱情悲剧。
这部五十余万字的长篇，以独特的视角，真挚的情感，丰厚的容量，深刻的内涵，冷峻的文笔，宏观地回顾了中国穆斯林漫长而艰难的足迹，揭示了他们在华夏文化与穆斯林文化的撞击和融合中独特的心理结构，以及在政治、宗教氛围中对人生真谛的困惑和追求，塑造了梁亦清、韩子奇、梁君壁、梁冰玉、韩新月、楚雁潮等一系列栩栩如生、血肉丰满的人物，展现了奇异而古老的民族风情和充满矛盾的现实生活。作品含蓄蕴藉，如泣如诉，以细腻的笔触拨动读者的心灵，曲终掩卷，回肠荡气，余韵绕梁。

荷西的死對三毛又是一場劫難，
因此由＜背影＞這本書，
在文學、心情上都與早期大不相同，
說情敘事極其內歛，
但在曲折的空間之餘，
讀者當能感受到三毛哀而不傷的筆調裡，
更多的其實是三毛對人生的堅定。

Sui Wai lost her fiance Ah Man in a car accident. With the obligations of life sitting heavy on her shoulders, she lives on only to find herself confiding in her beloved through a phone call. Dai Fai. a mini-bus driver who witnessed Ah Man's death, is always there offering her attentive encouragement and support, yet he himself also lives in the shadow of his last relationship. When Siu Wai strives to face the future without the man she loves, Dai Fai finds himself steadily falling in love with her.

1989 film by Johnnie To

In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.

Brilliant mathematician, John Nash, is on the brink of international acclaim when he becomes entangled in a mysterious conspiracy.

Unable to make it as a commercial success because he staunchly refuses to sell out, a struggling Hong Kong musician rediscovers his love of music and regains an interest in his life's meaning through his relationship with a dying girl.