This is a novel hauntingly reminiscent in some ways of The Last Emperor. But while director Bernardo Bertolucci, used the power of film to convey the fall of majesty to mediocrity, author Zee employs the might of language to detail a journey of fear and doubt to confidence and resolution. Peking serves as the anchor for each, but while the former acknowledges an acceptance of the equality of man, the latter makes a case for the individuality of the human spirit.

Set primarily in the decade leading up to the Second World War, the story follows an adolescent girl of dubious parentage, unruly and unrefined, who is sent to China to spend time with friends of the family. The hope is that in the somewhat cloistered environment of an expatriate community she will be molded into a more polished and sophisticated young lady. There however, a temporary sojourn turns into an extended stay, abetted by the country’s exotic allure, the friends’ inclusive acceptance, and the unquenchable desire for a relationship hovering precariously between forbidden and impossible.

Zee’s languidly beautiful prose surrounds readers with the infinite sights, sounds, and smells of China’s imperial city—a city once alive with the commerce of everyday life, now most concerned with surviving an impending assault from brutal Japanese forces. Whether painting a wondrous verbal watercolor of a Chinese spring, a Chopin concert, or unrequited love, the author leaves readers with an intimate understanding of pleasure and pain unfolding amid historically turbulent times. This is a mystery and a romance rolled into one. As with the best of novels, it graciously rewards the time you spend with it.

RECOMMENDED by the US Review

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