Things have been rather hectic lately and I haven't had the opportunity to read as I usually do. The latest book I've read is Jade by Pat Barr. Once again I chose a book set at the turn of the 20th Century and is set in China. This novel main character is Alice Greenwood to her British compatriots and Uncut Jade to masters when she was taken hostage as young girl and held for many years.
Barr goes into the history of China at the time with the evil dowerage empress and the boxer rebellion but these facts in history were less impacting than what Robert S. Elegant did with his book Mandarin.
While an interesting story, I couldn't help but feel Alice's instability and flipping from event to event unsettingly. I thought that she'd never be settled and live happily every after and kept looking for that on each page. Whether she did or didn't you will have to read the book to find out. It could have been me and the circumstances in my life at the time I was trying to read this - but Jade wasn't a book that held me enthralled. I found that I could put it down for days at time. I will recommended it though.
Read the book!
