Description
For Han Suyin life became a many-splendoured thing when she and Mark Eliott fell in love. They were both in their thirties, both considered staid, unemotional; she a Western-trained doctor, he the foreign correspondent of a well-known British newspaper. They met in Hongkong, where all creeds and races and politics meet. At their first meeting the miracle occurred. It was not - it could not be love. They did not believe in love, an emotion trivial and insignificant compared to the mighty upheavals of the Asiatic Revolution in which they were plunged.
But for them this personal, human emotion which changed their lives was more important than anything else. Then came the Korean war, and the end of dreams. But Han Suyin has always refused tragedy. 'Death is only an accident: what matters is life.'
Her story is told against a background of vivid description of life in Hongkong and in China China where old customs are being uprooted and life has acquired another rhythm under the impact of the new disciplines. The beauty, honesty and emotional force of this book entitle it to rank as fine literature.
