| Description |
296 pages : illustrations, map ; 23 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographic references (pages 279-280) and texts of 1879 correspondence regarding Russell & Co history (pages 281-282) and Qing emperors' letters to British Crowns, 1783 and 1839 (pages 286-290). |
| Summary |
"In the late summer of 1819, Samuel Russell, a young mill-goods agent from Connecticut, sets sail for China, seeking to make a name--and a fortune--for himself. After a tempestuous, months-long sea passage, Russell arrives in the ancient city of Canton, on the banks of the Pearl River. He steps into an exotic new world, a teeming, gritty waterfront crammed with sampans and street vendors, dockworkers and beggars, entrepreneurs, charlatans, and opportunists, an exciting intermingling of the familiar and the mysterious. A world that will be his home for the next twelve years. Restless and ambitious, Russell wins friends and makes enemies; succumbs to love's temptation; strikes a bargain--or two--with the devil; and saves lives--even as he puts millions more at risk. And while he trusts few, he is often plagued by doubt and self-recrimination, isolation, fitful dream-addled sleep, and profound loneliness. In the end, he comes to know tragedy and betrayal, as a series of events force him to flee China for his very life"--Back cover. |
| Subject |
Russell, Samuel, 1789-approximately 1862 -- Fiction.
|
|
Americans -- China -- Fiction.
|
|
Opium trade -- China -- History -- 19th century -- Fiction.
|
|
China -- History -- 19th century -- Fiction.
|
| Genre/Form |
Historical fiction.
|
|
Novels.
|
| ISBN |
9780996616966 |
|
0996616969 |
|
