First published 1996
Hong watches his older brother Chen prepare for the imperial examinations that could lift their family from poverty. At fifteen, Hong admires Chen's scholarly dedication, but their world fractures when famine strikes their village. The brothers must leave everything behind and travel across a China torn by natural disasters and human threats. Floods sweep away their path forward while pirates hunt travelers on the roads. Chen clings to his dream of becoming a government official through academic achievement, but Hong finds himself drawn into the shadowy world of the White Lotus, a secret society operating against imperial authority. Each brother faces a choice between family loyalty and personal survival. As they move deeper into a landscape of competing dangers, Hong must decide whether to follow Chen's respectable path or embrace the revolutionary calling that pulls at him. Their bond as brothers becomes both their greatest strength and their most vulnerable point in a journey that will determine not just their futures, but who they truly are.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, adventure, china, 19th-century, asian-american
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: China
Period: 19th-century
304 pages · Paperback · Square Fish
Content warnings: violence