“... A fascinating illumination of nineteenth-century Chinese culture and the complex Englishman Robert Hart, the father of China’s modernization. Hart’s struggles adapting to Chinese culture, always feeling the pull and force of his Victorian British background, are compelling. His relationships with his concubine and his concubine’s sister are poignant"the novel is as much a study of the complexities of love as it is anything else. A powerful novel ...” Judge, Writer’s Digest self-published book awards, 2008

REVIEW

“If even half of Lofthouse’s narrative is true, it’s a stunning work that enmeshes imperialism, modernity, miscegenation and plain old desire in a sweaty matrix of destruction and painful birth.”
CITY WEEKEND Magazine (Beijing; Shanghai; Guangzhou)
May 8, 2008 issue

Reviewed by: Lee Mack, Deputy Managing Editor
www.cityweekend.com.cn
City Weekend Magazine