Crimson in the Water: Tsai Yuling's Dramatic Early Life in Subtropical South-East China Between 1934 and 1945 (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781456775032)

'Ordinary people caught in a hotpot' (from a Chinese saying)

China in the1930s and early 40s... In the hotpot: tongue-scrapers, black kite lovers, simpletons, brothel girls, floggers, Reds, warlords, peasant farmers, Taoist priests, Japanese airmen and 'Imperialist devils' (invaders from the land of the Rising Sun) ...and Yuling.

This is his epic story, from an eleven-year-old who bonds with his nature-loving grandfather at a hut high above the world in big cat territory ... to near death dreaming... to young adulthood as a brilliant artist in forbidden love in a political and war-torn motherland.

Set in the lush sub-tropical south-east, Crimson in the Water is inspired drama at its pulsating best, with captivating prose and evocative dialogue.

Early readers:
'Utterly gripping, you do not quite know what is going to happen next, you think this will happen and then it takes a different direction - brilliant!'

'This novel very soon said "movie" to me.'

'The story grabbed me, it kept me hugely looking forward to the next moment, I read it at home, in the car, on holiday, and on the ferry.'