基本信息出版社：Flame
页码：704 页
出版日期：2004年04月
ISBN：0340827874
条形码：9780340827871
装帧：平装
外文书名：天堂宫殿
内容简介 Epic adventure, grand passion and historical intrigue in the bestselling tradition of Wilbur Smith
作者简介 The son of a Hong Kong Taipan, Adam Williams was born and raised in Asia, though educated in the United Kingdom. His family has been in China since the 1880s and he has fulfilled his destiny by joining Jardine Matheson and rising to head its operations in China as well as those of Jardine Fleming. He has undertaken an expedition by camel into the heart of the Taklamaken Desert to seek the lost cities of the Silk Road, and having survived this, competed in the 'Rhino Charge'. He is also an OBE.
媒体推荐 书评
From Publishers Weekly
Lavish in the manner of James Clavell and Leon Uris, this capacious and compelling saga centers on the Boxer Rebellion, a peasant uprising against the foreign colonization of China in 1900. More specifically, it follows the sensuously detailed love affair between Henry Manners, a Victorian secret agent, and Helen Frances Delamere, a convent-educated daughter of a local British soap merchant in the invented northern Chinese city of Shishan. The rest of the massive cast is headed by Dr. Edward Airton, a Scottish physician, who runs a hospital and mission in the city. Airton has become a philosophical sparring partner to the Mandarin, a local magistrate who holds absolute power. Airton''s family and friends round out the foreign presence, and a host of Chinese characters bridge the cultural gap. The villains of the piece, apart from the bloodthirsty Boxers, are Mother Liu, madam of the exclusive brothel that gives the volume its title, and her sadistic son, Ren Ren. As the rebellion develops from dubious rumor to frightening fact, the Westerners in Shishan are forced to place themselves in Manners''s intrepid but amoral hands. Williams''s mastery of language and plotting keeps contrivance and coincidence at bay, although he crosses the line into melodrama from time to time. In all, this is a first-rate story, peopled by passionate, believable characters and rich in historical and political detail.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
All the requisite romantic entanglements, political intrigues, and culture clashes ensue when East meets West in this superbly executed thriller set against the bloody backdrop of the Boxer Rebellion in late-nineteenth-century China. Featuring a huge cast of intricately interwoven international characters, the fast-paced narrative fairly leaps off the pages as the action takes on a breakneck speed. Caught in the throes of the understandably brutal peasant rebellion are the cosmopolitan residents of the fictional city of Shishan, including a fanatical American missionary, a compassionate Scottish doctor, the beautiful daughter of a British businessman ensnared in an unfortunate love triangle, a smooth but ethically questionable British nobleman, and a suitably inscrutable Chinese mandarin. Poised directly above the execution grounds stands the Palace of Heavenly Pleasure, a notorious brothel that plays a pivotal role in the lives of both the local and expatriate residents of Shishan. Epic in scope and execution, this ambitious first novel opens a window between two worlds poised on the brink of extinction. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
编辑推荐 From Publishers Weekly
Lavish in the manner of James Clavell and Leon Uris, this capacious and compelling saga centers on the Boxer Rebellion, a peasant uprising against the foreign colonization of China in 1900. More specifically, it follows the sensuously detailed love affair between Henry Manners, a Victorian secret agent, and Helen Frances Delamere, a convent-educated daughter of a local British soap merchant in the invented northern Chinese city of Shishan. The rest of the massive cast is headed by Dr. Edward Airton, a Scottish physician, who runs a hospital and mission in the city. Airton has become a philosophical sparring partner to the Mandarin, a local magistrate who holds absolute power. Airton's family and friends round out the foreign presence, and a host of Chinese characters bridge the cultural gap. The villains of the piece, apart from the bloodthirsty Boxers, are Mother Liu, madam of the exclusive brothel that gives the volume its title, and her sadistic son, Ren Ren. As the rebellion develops from dubious rumor to frightening fact, the Westerners in Shishan are forced to place themselves in Manners's intrepid but amoral hands. Williams's mastery of language and plotting keeps contrivance and coincidence at bay, although he crosses the line into melodrama from time to time. In all, this is a first-rate story, peopled by passionate, believable characters and rich in historical and political detail.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
All the requisite romantic entanglements, political intrigues, and culture clashes ensue when East meets West in this superbly executed thriller set against the bloody backdrop of the Boxer Rebellion in late-nineteenth-century China. Featuring a huge cast of intricately interwoven international characters, the fast-paced narrative fairly leaps off the pages as the action takes on a breakneck speed. Caught in the throes of the understandably brutal peasant rebellion are the cosmopolitan residents of the fictional city of Shishan, including a fanatical American missionary, a compassionate Scottish doctor, the beautiful daughter of a British businessman ensnared in an unfortunate love triangle, a smooth but ethically questionable British nobleman, and a suitably inscrutable Chinese mandarin. Poised directly above the execution grounds stands the Palace of Heavenly Pleasure, a notorious brothel that plays a pivotal role in the lives of both the local and expatriate residents of Shishan. Epic in scope and execution, this ambitious first novel opens a window between two worlds poised on the brink of extinction. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.