The Imperial China Trilogy Series

A grand tale of intrigue in nineteenth-century China, where imperial rule is crumbling as the Opium Wars and Taiping Rebellion rage, from the author of Manchu. Loyalty is put to cruel test in Shanghai, where Jewish merchant Saul Haleevie and his longtime Chinese partner, Aisek Lee, have weathered hardship and distrust to build a thriving business. When Aisek is falsely accused of “abomination” for causing his mother’s suicide, their world is shattered. Now, Saul must save his friend no matter the cost, navigating a brutal and corrupt penal system that could bring about his own ruin as well.   Meanwhile, the quest for true love governs the fate of Saul’s wayward daughter, Fronah. Consorting with the Westerners now thronging Shanghai but truly comfortable only in her Jewish-Asiatic identity, she ends up destroying one man and confounding another.   Love and deception also entwine in the imperial palace, where the “Virtuous Concubine” Yehenala contrives to bear the opium-eating, syphilitic Hsien Feng emperor’s only son, thus laying the foundation for her elevation to the pinnacle of command in China as the formidable empress dowager. She wins the power battle, but it is beyond her to win the war, for by then China faces not just the collapse of another imperial dynasty, but the end of the millennial imperial system of rule, threatening the lives and loves of all.   This compelling saga of nineteenth-century China is filled with “intricate shuttlecock diplomacy, ceremonial/battle action, family saga/romance—all polished to an entertaining high gloss” (Kirkus Reviews).  

New York Times Bestseller: An epic of love and adultery, money and power, set amid the revolutionary turbulence of twentieth-century China, from the author of Manchu and Mandarin. Founder of the Sekloong dynasty of Hong Kong, Sir Jonathan, the illegitimate offspring of an Irish adventurer and his Chinese mistress, overcame colonial prejudice to build a vast and influential trading empire spanning half a century. The marriage of Sir Jonathan’s profligate son Charles to the ambitious and beautiful Mary Osgood comes to embody, on both personal and political levels, the tensions between Orient and Occident, and between Nationalists and Communists fighting for control of postimperial China.   Dynasty follows the Sekloongs’ triumphs, tragedies, betrayals, and bloodshed through the decades as they expand and protect their own empire, even as their homeland is torn apart from within by war and ideological upheaval, from the fall of the last emperor to the triumph of Mao Tse-tung. As China turbulently enters the modern world, the Sekloongs also grow in stature and strength—as do their desires and wayward passions.   Fluent in Mandarin, author Robert Elegant spent many years in Hong Kong as a journalist and commentator, and has authored many acclaimed books on China. His stirring drama combines vivid writing with a deep understanding of Chinese culture, creating “an action-packed novel . . . conjured up with perception and vigor” (TheNew York Times Book Review).  

New York Times Bestseller: This epic novel of the conquest of the Ming dynasty “does for 17th-century China what James Clavell’s Shogun did for 16th-century Japan” (The Christian Science Monitor). Francis Arrowsmith is a man without a country, a soldier-of-fortune in search of a war. An English orphan raised in France by exiled Jesuits, he hopes to make a quick pile out of his rare skills in building and operating artillery. Little does he know that when he joins a Portuguese expedition to aid the decadent and corrupt Ming dynasty in its fight against the Manchu invaders, he is embarking on a journey that will merge his destiny with the fate of China itself.   From the opulent courts of the emperors to bloody battlefields, author Robert Elegant employs his deep knowledge and love of China to create a richly detailed world of dangers and delights, where the quest for power and pleasure drives men and women to extremes of both loyalty and betrayal.   Manchu is the compellingly vivid story of an empire in its last agonies and the people caught up in its fateful drama by the Edgar Award–winning author of Mandarin and Dynasty.  

The complete New York Times–bestselling trilogy of historical fiction set in China, from an award-winning novelist and Pulitzer Prize finalist in journalism.   Spanning over three centuries of Chinese history, New York Times–bestselling and Edgar Award–winning author Robert Elegant takes readers from the opulent courts and complex intrigue of the emperors to the bloody battlefields, and vividly recreates a richly detailed world where the quest for power and pleasure drives men and women to extremes of both loyalty and betrayal. In this special single-volume edition, the novels are presented in chronological historical order.   Manchu: In this New York Times bestseller, soldier of fortune Francis Arrowsmith joins a Portuguese expedition to aid the decadent and corrupt Ming dynasty in its fight against the Manchu invaders. He embarks on an epic adventure that will merge his destiny with the fate of China itself.   “Does for seventeenth-century China what James Clavell’s Shogun did for sixteenth-century Japan.” —The Christian Science Monitor   Mandarin: In nineteenth-century China, imperial rule is crumbling as the Opium Wars and Taiping Rebellion rage. On the streets of Shanghai, a Jewish silk merchant tries to save his Chinese partner from a false accusation and corrupt penal system, while in the imperial palace the “Virtuous Concubine” Yehenala contrives to bear the opium-eating, syphilitic emperor’s only son, thus laying the foundation for her elevation to the pinnacle of power in China as the formidable empress dowager.   “Exciting, historically accurate, a good read.” —The New York Times   Dynasty: A New York Times bestseller, this epic of love and adultery, money and power, set amid the revolutionary turbulence of twentieth-century China, from the fall of the last emperor to the rise of Mao Tse-tung, follows the Sekloong dynasty of Hong Kong, a trading empire founded by Sir Jonathan, the illegitimate offspring of an Irish adventurer and his Chinese mistress, in all its triumphs, tragedies, betrayals, and bloodshed.   “An action-packed novel . . . conjured up with perception and vigor.” —The New York Times Book Review