The Middle Heart
Bette Bao Lord Enterprises Inc$19.55
$23.00
"TRULY MOVING . . . BETTE BAO LORD IS AT HER STRONGEST."
--The Boston Globe In 1932, as China shamefully kowtows under Japanese occupation, three unlikely companions are fatefully bound by their steadfast patriotism: Steel Hope, heir to a once-great aristocracy; Mountain Pine, his crippled, scholarly servant; and Firecrackers, a poor gravekeeper's daughter. In a youthful pact, they call themselves "Brothers of the Middle Heart," vowing to defend their country to the end. Yet as war and, later, the Communist Revolution ignite, cruel circumstances separate them. One becomes a political leader, one a writer, one an actress. But despite incessant historical upheaval, their lives continue to intertwine in poignant, often tragic, ways. Enmeshed in a love triangle, they will live to see their loyalty to one another tested again and again. Through these three richly drawn characters, Bette Bao Lord re-creates the stirring drama of twentieth-century China. In vivid, haunting prose she evokes the outrages that marred fifty years of the Chinese people's existence--and illuminates the remarkable resilience that defines them to this day.
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 07/14/1997
ISBN: 9780449912324
Pages: 408
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.50w x 1.10d
Review Citations: New York Times 07/20/1997 pg. 32
NY Times Notable Bks of Year 01/01/1997 pg. 97
Publishers Weekly 06/16/1997
--The Boston Globe In 1932, as China shamefully kowtows under Japanese occupation, three unlikely companions are fatefully bound by their steadfast patriotism: Steel Hope, heir to a once-great aristocracy; Mountain Pine, his crippled, scholarly servant; and Firecrackers, a poor gravekeeper's daughter. In a youthful pact, they call themselves "Brothers of the Middle Heart," vowing to defend their country to the end. Yet as war and, later, the Communist Revolution ignite, cruel circumstances separate them. One becomes a political leader, one a writer, one an actress. But despite incessant historical upheaval, their lives continue to intertwine in poignant, often tragic, ways. Enmeshed in a love triangle, they will live to see their loyalty to one another tested again and again. Through these three richly drawn characters, Bette Bao Lord re-creates the stirring drama of twentieth-century China. In vivid, haunting prose she evokes the outrages that marred fifty years of the Chinese people's existence--and illuminates the remarkable resilience that defines them to this day.
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 07/14/1997
ISBN: 9780449912324
Pages: 408
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.50w x 1.10d
Review Citations: New York Times 07/20/1997 pg. 32
NY Times Notable Bks of Year 01/01/1997 pg. 97
Publishers Weekly 06/16/1997