The Concubine's Secret

I love how Kate Furnivall writes. It's believable, subtle, and excellent. 'The Girl from Junchow' follows Lydia's foray into Soviet Russia in attempt to free her father. She has help from her newly found brother Alexei Serov and Popkov, a Cossack who protected her father in Tsarist Russia. There she entangles herself with a crime syndicate and a Russian officer who is more than she can handle. During of all this, she longs for her Chinese lover's embrace, Chang An Lo, who walks a fine line in Mao's Communist Party.

Overall, excellent. Good plot line, writing as I said before, characterization, etc. However, one of the major gripes I had with this novel was at the end when Lydia revealed a bargain she made with one of the governments. show more That came out of nowhere and left me confused as to how that happened. Still a very good book, although I did enjoy [The Russian Concubine] better. show less

Implausible plot whereby 17 year old redhead and her half brother have fled Mao's China to seek their engineer father, a prisoner of the Communists, in Russia. Her Chinese lover turns up as part of a inter-communist delegation and together they try to workout how to be together again. Gratuitous Cossack and pretend-friend who spies on them thrown in. Hilarious romp - perfect beach read.

China, 1929. For years Lydia Ivanova believed her father was killed by the Bolsheviks. But when she learns he is captive in Stalin-controlled Russia, the fiery-haired girl is willing to leave everything behind - even her Chinese lover, Chang An Lo. Journeying with her half-brother Alexei, Lydia begins a dangerous search. Tension grows between the two, for while Alexei is searching for his past, Lydia is looking for her future. But when Alexei disappears, Lydia is left almost penniless in Soviet Russia - and doubting the choices she has made. Surrounded by dangers, she searches for information and soon finds herself entangled with a Russian officer. But Chang An Lo has not forgotten Lydia. He knows things about her father that she does show more not. And while he races to protect her, she is prepared to risk treacherous consequences to discover the truth. show less

Found this a little harder going than the prequel - perhaps because there was quite a lot of repetition - whilst that helps the book stand on its own it spoiled it for me having read the prequel so recently.

Nevertheless a great story, fabulous characters and descriptions of the locations bring the whole thing to life in classic Kate Furnivall style.

Second of a series with nice love story and OK plot of girl finding her father. Nice character development and description of life in Soviet Russia of 1929. Enjoyed it though it moved slow at points.

This book is the sequel to "The Russian Concubine". I enjoyed both books. The Girl from Junchow, is a book that has a good plot and lots of action.

OK, but a bit drawn out (Russia/China)