Medieval China Trilogy
3 primary works Complete
Book 1
Western China, 1196: Yun Cai, a handsome and adored poet in his youth, is now an old man, exiled to his family estates. All that is left to him are regrets of a growing sense of futility and helplessness and the irritations of his feckless son and shrewish daughter-in-law. But the 'poison dragons' of misfortune shatter his orderly existence. First, Yun Cai's village is threatened with destruction by a vicious civil war. His wayward second son, a brutal rebel officer seems determined to ruin his entire family. Meanwhile, Yun Cai struggles to free an old friend, P'ei Ti, from a hellish prison - no easy task when P'ei Ti is the rebels' most valuable hostage and Yun Cai considers himself merely a spent, and increasingly frightened old man.Throughout these ordeals, Yun Cai draws from the glittering memories of his youth, when he journeyed to the capital to study poetry and join the upper ranks of the civil service: how he contended with rivalry and enmity among his fellow students and secured the friendship of P'ei Ti. Above all, he reflects on a great love he won and lost: his love for the beautiful singing girl, Su Lin, for which he paid with his freedom and almost his life.Yun Cai is forced to reconsider all that he is and all that he has ever been in order to determine how to preserve his honour and all that he finds he still cherishes.
Only then can summon the wit and courage to confront the warlord General An-Shu and his beautiful but cruel consort, the Lady Ta-Chi.
Only then can summon the wit and courage to confront the warlord General An-Shu and his beautiful but cruel consort, the Lady Ta-Chi.
Book 2
Central China, 1264. When Mongol armies storm into the Middle Kingdom, the descendents of Yun Cai (Taming Poison Dragons) are trapped in a desperate siege that will determine the fate of the Empire. Guang and Shih are identical twins, one a heroic soldier idolised by the city he defends, the other a humble doctor. In the midst of war, jealous conflicts over Shih's wife and concubine threaten to tear the brothers apart. Enemies close in on every side - some disturbingly close to home. Can the Yun family survive imprisonment, ruthless treachery and Kublai Khan's bloody hordes? Or will their own reckless passions destroy them first? "Breaking Bamboo" is the second instalment of a trilogy set in Song and Yuan Dynasty China, charting the trials and adventures of the Yun clan.
Book 3
Hou-ming, city of ghosts, central China, 1304 - In a vast graveyard created by Mongol slaughter, three children meet amidst the decaying ruins and forge a friendship that will determine their destinies. As the years pass they separate, finding different paths in life. Yun Shu, cruelly rejected by her father for refusing to bind her feet, seeks solace as a Daoist nun. Hsiung, enslaved by the Mongols when just a boy, becomes a ruthless rebel warlord determined to drive the invaders from his native land. Teng, an artist and scholar, last son of a once noble family ruined by the new Mongol dynasty, risks his life to preserve the culture he reveres. For the three friends to come together, they must endure war, treachery greed and the casual abuse of power. To win honour and unexpected love they must overcome dangerous enemies and conflicts in the depths of their hearts. Each of them, through clouds of troubles, must earn the Mandate of Heaven.