This is the story of a close-knit English family living in China in
the early 20th century, whose lives are changed when uncle Arthur,
member of the Foot Emancipation Society, marries May, a Chinese
prostitute with bound feet. May is wilful, determined and deadly,
and when she teaches her 12-year-old niece Alice to roll opium
balls the size of marbles, Alice's mother spirits the child away to
an English boarding school. However, when Alice is reunited with
May the relationship between them becomes even more dangerous. This
is Harrison's fourth novel and it displays acute, dynamic
characterization. Excellently researched, with colloquial tales
woven into excerpts from Chinese legend, there are moments when it
seems the story has been lifted straight from the annals of a
perceptive historian. (Kirkus UK)
'This is a tale as absorbing and exciting as Arthur Golden's
Memoirs of a Geisha.' Sunday Express The magical tale of a young
orphan's adventures after she flees rural China for
turn-of-the-century Shanghai. From Kathryn Harrison, author of the
bestselling memoir THE KISS. Beautiful, charismatic and
destructive, May escapes an arranged marriage in rural China for
life in a Shanghai brothel, where, in 1899, she meets Arthur, an
Australian. As a member of the Foot Emancipation Society, Arthur
calls on May not for his pleasure but for her rehabilitation, only
to find himself helplessly seduced by the sight of her bound feet.
Reforming May is out of the question, so Arthur marries her
instead, and brings her home to live with his sister Dolly, her
husband Dick, and their two girls Alice and Cecily. In Alice May
sees the possibility of redemption: a surrogate for the child she
has lost. And it is to May that Alice turns for the love her own
mother withholds. But when the twelve year old is caught preparing
her aunt's opium pipe, Alice is enrolled in a London boarding
school, far from the dangerous influence of the woman who will come
to reclaim her, and to control the whole family.
General
Imprint: |
Fourth Estate
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
June 2001 |
Authors: |
Kathryn Harrison
|
Dimensions: |
197 x 130 x 19mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - B-format
|
Pages: |
312 |
Edition: |
New Ed |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-84115-269-1 |
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
General & literary fiction >
Modern fiction
|
LSN: |
1-84115-269-2 |
Barcode: |
9781841152691 |
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