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Synopsis
Raised in the self-indulgent city of Shanghai, Clio Oliver is brought back to England for a funeral but, after many years of yearning, returns to Shanghai, where she is surprised to find that great changes have occured, causing the slow destructon of thehome she once cherished
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From Kirkus Reviews
A sweeping novel, set in Shanghai and elsewhere, of the high life between the wars in which a rich young Englishwoman torn by loyalties to different cultures, and oppressed by a stifling marriage, finds true love at last. Aging Clio Oliver, McLeay's (Passage Home, 1990, etc.) latest protagonist, starts writing her life story on a visit to Shanghai, the city where she was born in 1910. It begins with her family's return to England in 1923. There to attend grandfather Matthew's funeral, Clio recalls seeing a woman and her young son stand apart from the Oliver family at the ceremony. The woman's presence seemed to disturb Clio's father and Uncle Kit, who have just inherited the Oliver shipping empire. Clio, soon sent to boarding school, misses ``the enchanted security'' of her Shanghai house and garden. She fondly recalls her unusual but surprisingly happy childhood there: the loving Chinese governess who brought her up after her mother died; her father's concubines; and the sensual dancing lessons given her by two young Russian exiles, Igor and Nina. Despite the family's immense wealth, English life seems drab, and, though Clio is soon caught up in the rituals of the upper class, she is never really happy. The young boy at the funeral turns out to be Stephen Morgan, whose mother, Catherine Oliver, had been ostracized by the family for marrying a sailor; Stephen is eventually, reluctantly, brought into the family business. Clio travels, parties, and makes a suitable but increasingly unsatisfying marriage. Then her marriage takes her briefly back to Shanghai, now under Japanese assault and much changed. But wherever she goes--Shanghai, the Scottish Highlands during the war years--Stephen, not only a brilliant businessman but a war hero, is somehow always there to rescue her from bombs and betrayals. One of those beguilingly detailed period novels too intelligent to be froth and too unpretentious to do more than tell an absorbing story with panache and conviction. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
From Publishers Weekly
McLeay's richly atmospheric novels are always in the service of a good story, and her latest (after The Dream Maker) is again an involving read as she evokes two cultures and a woman torn between them. During the first two decades of the 20th century, when her father manages the Oriental branch of the Oliver shipping line, Clio Oliver is raised in the exotic, luxurious atmosphere of a large Shanghai mansion. It's not until she finds herself back in England upon the death of her grandfather, the family patriarch, that she encounters the rest of her family, including two black sheep?her disinherited aunt and her bastard cousin Stephen. Her grandmother Kate's later attempts to bring Stephen into the fold are met with strong resistance by Clio's brother, Guy, the heir apparent, and with unhealthy love by her favorite cousin, Alice; there will be momentous consequences in all their lives. During an ill-starred flirtation with her sultry Aunt Margot's Russian gigolo, Clio meets stolid Ewan McLennan, whom she marries and who, ironically, brings her back to Shanghai. There she discovers the emptiness of her marriage and experiences the fullness of her love for Stephen and the beginning of the Japanese occupation. Clio stays with Ewan but must ultimately choose between duty to family and the call of personal fulfillment. Key to this novel's appeal is the nostalgic tone in which Clio describes the vicissitudes of her life and her hard-won philosophy of surmounting pain. That she finally finds happiness is no less touching for being predictable.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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- PublisherSt Martins Pr
- Publication date1996
- ISBN 10 0312142714
- ISBN 13 9780312142711
- BindingHardcover
- LanguageEnglish
- Edition number1
- Number of pages418
- Rating
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After Shanghai
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Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. Former library book; May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.7. Seller Inventory # G0312142714I4N10
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After Shanghai
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Condition: Good. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # 4107046-6
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After Shanghai
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After Shanghai
Published by
St. Martin's Press, New York:, 1995
ISBN 10: 0312142714
ISBN 13: 9780312142711
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: About Books, Henderson, NV, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Fine condition. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine dust jacket. Paul Wright full wrap-around jacket art (illustrator). First American Edition. New York:: St. Martin's Press, 1995. A bright, shiny, clean, square, tight copy. Sharp corners. The Dust Jacket is NOT price clipped (24.95). No chips. No tears. No creases. No owner's name or bookplate. No remainder mark. Pages are crisp and unmarked. "First U.S. Edition" is so stated, with a complete number row (10 987654321) on the copyright page. Bound in the original black boards, lettered in shiny silver on the spine. From the Dust Jacket: "Shanghai in the twenties and thirties its name signified glamour, intrigue and bizarre self-indulgence. Born there into a wealthy English ship-owning dynasty, Clio Oliver has a childhood as cloistered and lavish as that of any princess. When her grandfather's death summons her to England, she's still a child, but has some idea that Daddy has a new friend -- one like those he used to know in China. Clio soon finds herself trapped between two cultures. As a married woman, she returns to Shanghai seeking the safe cocoon of her childhood -- only to find deceit, betrayal, and the threat of Japanese destruction. But everything changes in time, she learns, and what endures is the memory." . First American Edition. Hard Cover. Fine condition./Fine dust jacket. Illus. by Paul Wright full wrap-around jacket art. 8vo. 419pp. Seller Inventory # 005755
Quantity: 1 available