by Timothy Mo
First published 1987
Two young Americans throw away their established careers to create a bold weekly newspaper in the colonial outpost of Macao. Their venture unfolds against the backdrop of the Opium Wars, as British and Chinese forces clash over trade and territory in the Pearl River Delta. The partners navigate a world where Portuguese colonial administrators, British merchants, and Chinese officials pursue conflicting agendas. Their irreverent publication becomes entangled in the web of corruption that defines daily life in the region. Money changes hands in shadowy deals while racial tensions simmer beneath the surface of diplomatic protocol. The Americans discover that their idealistic journalism project cannot remain separate from the greed and betrayal that fuel the opium trade. As war escalates between Britain and Imperial China, personal loyalties fracture and romantic entanglements complicate their mission. The newspaper becomes both witness to and participant in the moral compromises that colonialism demands.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, adventure, 19th-century
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: idealism-vs-pragmatism, moral-compromise
Setting: Macao, Pearl-River-Delta
Period: Opium-Wars
Hardcover · Key Porter Books
Content warnings: colonialism, war