Flash House - Hardcover

Liu, Aimee

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0446530972 ISBN 13: 9780446530972

Publisher: Warner Books, 2003

Synopsis

When a plane carrying Amer- ican journalist Aidan Shaw goes down in Kashmir in 1949, his wife Joanna refuses to accept that he is dead. Convinced her husband's disappearance is no accident, Joanna enlists the help of his best friend, Lawrence Malcolm, a member of Australia's secret service. In search of answers, they set off, bringing along a translator named Kamla, a girl Joanna has rescued from an Indian brothel, or flash house. As their journey leads them across Central Asia, this unlikely band finds strength and unexpected passion in their midst, as well as one cruel revelation after another. But can their bond endure the ultimate betrayal?

About this title

About the Author

Aimee Liu is president of Pen West and lives in California with her husband and sons.

Reviews

Set in tumultuous post-WWII Asia, Liu's third novel (after Face and Cloud Mountain) is a sweeping espionage thriller that traces a woman's efforts to find her husband after he disappears into the back country of Communist China in 1949. Joanna Shaw, who runs a rescue agency for Asian prostitutes in New Delhi, offers asylum to a 10-year-old rape victim named Kamla. Shortly afterwards Joanna is notified that her husband, Aidan, a journalist who has been targeted by J. Edgar Hoover for alleged Communist sympathies, has gone missing after a plane crash in Kashmir. Convinced that Aidan is alive, Joanna sets off with her husband's friend, Malcolm Lawrence, and Kamla as their interpreter to find Aidan, but their quest hits a dead end after they discover the body of the female journalist with whom Aidan apparently was traveling. As her prospects of locating Aidan fade, Joanna begins an affair with Malcolm, but soon learns that her new lover had a key role with Aidan in an espionage operation, as a result of which Aidan may have defected to China. Liu tracks the shifting alliances of Aidan, Joanna and Malcolm with surefooted storytelling and solid characterization, and introduces layers of suspense rooted in provocative political secrets. The ending is a crescendo of bittersweet revelations, in which Liu's ability to probe issues of East versus West rises to a new level.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

After Cloud Mountain, Liu takes us to 1949 Kashmir, where Joanna Shaw is looking for vanished journalist husband Aidan with the help of Aidan's best friend and a girl Johanna has rescued from a brothel. Warner has done a brisk business in foreign rights.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Liu's latest novel is part love story, part gripping tale of espionage, and part primer on the tangled early years of the cold war. Journalist Aidan Shaw warned his wife, Joanna, not to expect a quiet life with him, but their existence in postpartition New Delhi is relatively tranquil until he disappears while on assignment in Srinagar. Joanna refuses to accept official reports that Aidan is dead, and in the company of his best friend, Lawrence, the Shaws' young son, Simon, and Kamla, a 10-year-old girl Joanna has rescued from a brothel, she sets out on a trek across the mountains to find him. What she finds instead are secrets and more secrets, for in Central Asia in 1949, everyone is hiding something--beginning with Aidan himself. Unfolding with the mystery of Aidan's disappearance is the haunting story of Kamla, orphaned and abandoned, determined to survive and passionately devoted to Joanna. Richly evocative prose and a memorable cast of characters should win this novel a wide readership. Meredith Parets
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Warner Books
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0446530972
• ISBN 13: 9780446530972
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 458