Middle Heart: A Novel
Books / Paperback
Books › Fiction › Historical › General
ISBN: 0449912329 / Publisher: Random House Publishing Group, July 1997
In 1932 China, three unlikely friends, the heir to an aristocracy, a servant, and the daughter of a grave keeper, are brought together by their fervent patriotism, and their lives remain intertwined throughout the following years. Reprint.
Read More
"TRULY MOVING . . . BETTE BAO LORD IS AT HER STRONGEST."<br>--The Boston Globe<br><br>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.<br><br>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.<br><br>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.
Read Less