".now she knew tht you didn't survive on your own. I'm going to start with a quote straight from the book. Very little language, but a couple of steamy love making, and a couple of nasty violent scenes (all of which had to be there to make the book so great). The Russian Concubine contains fictional characters and events, but Kate made use of the extraordinary situation that was her mother's childhood experience - that of two White Russian refugees, a mother and daughter, stuck without money or papers in an International Settlement in China.įirst of all I give this book two big thumbs up. It was when her mother died in 2000 that Kate decided to write a book inspired by her mother's story. She travelled widely, giving her an insight into how different cultures function which was to prove invaluable when writing The Russian Concubine. Then into advertising where she met her future husband, Norman. Kate went to London University where she studied English and from there she went into publishing, writing material for a series of books on the canals of Britain.
These values Kate explores in The Russian Concubine. Her mother, whose own childhood was spent in Russia, China and India, discovered at an early age that the world around us is so volatile, that the only things of true value are those inside your head and your heart. Despite these flaws, Furnivall vividly evokes Lydia's character and personal struggles against a backdrop of depravity and corruption.Kate Furnivall was raised in Penarth, a small seaside town in Wales.
Violence is more prevalent (and graphic) than sex, and the narrative has extended periods of inertia during which there is much action, but not of the plot-advancing sort. Theo's struggle to preserve his school and his happy life with his Chinese mistress, Li Mei, drives him to collude with Li Mei's estranged father the leader of the Black Snakes to run opium into Junchow. Lydia's travails are mirrored by those of Theo Willoughby, the British headmaster of her school. Danger is never far as the two fall in love. When Lydia inadvertently attracts the unwelcome attentions of a criminal gang, the Black Snakes, she finds a rescuer in Chang An Lo, an English-speaking Communist and kung fu master. Valentina Ivanova and her 16-year-old daughter, Lydia, White Russian refugees, live in grinding poverty in the International Settlement of Junchow, subsisting off whatever presents Valentina can charm from gentlemen admirers and the profits Lydia makes from pawning stolen goods. The experiences of the author's mother inspired this debut novel, a somewhat improbable tale of star-crossed love in 1928 China.
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