Synopsis (from the book cover):

Two beautiful women.  One mysterious man.  Separated by culture, class and war.

In the heat and bustle of 1950s Hong Kong, newlywed Claire Pendleton is changing from an uptight English wallflower to a beautiful, graceful bloom.  Then she meets Will, driver to wealthy Chinese couple the Chens, when she takes the job of piano teacher to their daughter.  His enigmatic presence enthrals and excites her.

A decade earlier, with war looming, Eurasian beauty Trudy Liang casts her own spell of fascination.  A social butterfly, she is a thing of mystery – and intrigue.  She knows everyone worth knowing in Hong Kong – Chinese and foreign, good and bad, rich and poor.  Including a newly arrived young Englishman – the magnetic Will Truesdale…

Review:

The novel is set in Hong Kong at the time of the Japanese invasion.  As well as being a love story it is also a historical novel.  The story switches backwards and forwards between two periods of time, 1941-42 and 1952-53.  The book describes what it was like at that time and how the invasion affected the lives of the people who lived there before, during and after the invasion.

The characters are well drawn and in some cases intriguing.  I found the story compelling it was difficult to put the book down.  It one of those books where just have to keep reading one more page.  The story line keeps you guessing right up until the end so I haven’t gone into the plot in too much detail so it doesn’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t read the book.