A Many-Splendored Thing

I first came across this book in the 1970s when I was reading Han Suyin's series of books of her family history,combined with the historyof China at the same period. I thought I had read the book - but on (re-?) reading , I'm not so sure - there were zero sparks of memory.
But, to the book itself, which is a dazzler. It tells the story of the author's love affair with a journalist in Hong Kong in the early 1950s. It's a compelling tale, and is told very well. The book was a hit, and established Han's career as a writer. Interestingly, it is written in exactly the same style as her later series starting with Crippled Tree - part autobiographical/part regional history.
Han is candid. She is "Eurasian" in an era and society which largely show more treated such a state as miscegenation. The fact that she is super smart, and a qualifed medical doctor does not affect the pre-judgment of the largely boigoted society of the time.
Her lover is portrayed as a British journalist, but was, in fact, the Australian, Ian Morrison. He was the son of "Morrison of Peking" - the very influential journalist for The Times in Peking in the early years of the 20th century, and mentioned frequently in The Crippled Tree. show less

A moving and historically interesting story which is biographical. Han Suyin is a doctor working in a hospital in Hong Kong in 1950 at the time of the rise of communism in mainland China. Her meeting with Mark Elliot a british foreign correspondent and their subsequent passionate love affair is the main focus of the book. Her style of writing is full of superlatives which at times is a bit over the top. The best part of the book is near the end when Mark's letters to her written from Korea where he has been sent. His letters are very moving, very very moving.

very sad story of love, death and at the same time life in hong kong while china's communists were winning their war.

vertaling van A Many-Splendoured Thing

No valid German National Library records retrieved.

bought today 1 of 12 books for $10 the lot.