China

by Edward Rutherfurd

paperback published in 2021. In good condition. 

Rutherfurd, known for his epic novels and meticulous research, takes on nineteenth century China. There is opium smuggling, tea trading, unhappy marriages and malevolent mothers-in-law, there are royals and villagers and the action takes us from Hong Kong to Beijing to the Great Wall. The characters maybe fictional but the history is real and it's interesting.