China
with Edward Rutherfurd
Hosted by the Toronto Star’s Janet Somerville Podcast Fiction History
This is the story of the Chinese people, high and low, and the Westerners who came to exploit the riches of their ancient land and culture…. I have tried to tell the tale of this mighty clash of world views, of mutual misunderstanding, of fortunes gained, battles fought and love lost, as humanly and honestly as I can, as seen from both sides of the divide.
Edward Rutherfurd returns to the Festival with his latest bestseller, China: The Novel, for a conversation with Janet Somerville, author, educator and reviewer of Historical Fiction for the Toronto Star.
Edward Rutherfurd has enthralled millions of readers with his grand, sweeping historical sagas that tell the history of a famous place over multiple generations. Now, in China: The Novel, Rutherfurd takes readers into the rich and fascinating milieu of the Middle Kingdom.
The story begins in 1839, at the dawn of the First Opium War, and follows Chinese history through Mao's Cultural Revolution and up to the present day. Rutherfurd chronicles the rising and falling fortunes of members of Chinese, British, and American families, as they negotiate the tides of history. Along the way, in his signature style, Rutherfurd provides a deeply researched portrait of Chinese history and society, its ancient traditions and great upheavals, and China's emergence as a rising global power. As always, we are treated to romance and adventure, heroines and scoundrels, grinding struggle and incredible fortunes.
From Shanghai to Nanking to the Great Wall, China: The Novel, chronicles the turbulent rise and fall of empires as the colonial West meets the opulent and complex East in a dramatic struggle between cultures and people.
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