Voltaire described history as a register of crimes and misfortunes.

As he's done with other places, Edward Rutherfurd skillfully records crimes and misfortunes that have contributed to making it the place it is today in his remarkable novel China.

Unlike some of his previous works, which spanned thousands of years in the history of a particular place or country, this one covers a relatively short period of time. It traces the history of the country from the Opium Wars of 1839 to the revolution of 1911, the dawn of modern China, and deals largely with the influence of foreign invaders on the Chinese and their rulers.

There are plenty of crimes and misfortunes depicted in this brief span. The crimes are perpetrated by both the foreign invaders and the Chinese. The misfortunes largely fall upon the Chinese people.

It's no wonder a diverse nation dedicated to order, tradition and respect for nature was puzzled by the behavior of the crude, rapacious invaders and saw them as barbarians. The West seems to have as little understanding of China now as it did then.

As previously, Rutherfurd employs a large cast of characters and their interweaving relationships to tell his story. These characters aren't all admirable, but they're always interesting and provide a deeper insight into the people involved, the country and the events. Some who particularly grabbed my attention were John Trader, the British merchant whose long life and exploits keep him in the story nearly from start to finish; Mei-Ling, the peasant girl who wins over her domineering mother-in-law by birthing a son and later becomes the concubine of the ambitious scholar Shi-Rong; and Lacquer Nail, the eunuch who wins the favor of the Empress Cixi.

If I have any complaint about the novel it would be Rutherfurd's occasional jarring use of modern words like "funnily." Otherwise, if you're in the mood for an epic historical pageant, this is a novel you'll want to read.

[ visit the author's website ]