The Russian Concubine
(2007) is set in Junchow in pre-revolutionary China. In the introduction, in 1917,
pianist Valentina Ivanova and her five-year-old daughter Lydia are separated
from their husband and father, Jens Friis, by the Bolsheviks and sent to China.
The main story takes
place from 1927 when Lydia has her sixteenth birthday. Teacher Theo Willoughby
established a school, the Willoughby Academy in Junchow for foreigners. Even
though he was spending time with Li Mei, he had eyes for Lydia, as did most
young male foreigners.
Lydia and her mother
are poor, so Lydia lies and steals, taking her goods to the dangerous back
streets of Junchow to pawn them. She is rescued on one occasion by Chang An Lo,
a young man who beats off her assailant with a kung-fu kick. They start seeing
each other, but he is pursued by Chiang Kai-shek’s troops. Chang disappears.
Theo’s school might be
shut down by Polly’s father, Christopher Mason, the director of a bank. Theo
took a loan for the extension of the school, and Mason threatens to call in the
loan if Theo keeps teaching Chinese history to his foreign students.
Alexei Serov also
notices Lydia and she seems to flirt with him, much to her mother’s annoyance.
Valentina doesn’t want Lydia to have anything to do with Russian males, nor
with Chinese men.
By New Year,
everything changes. Valentina marries Alfred Parker, a British journalist. With
the help of Liev Popkov, Lydia finds Chang An Lo – branded, burned, and beaten.
She harbours him secretly, knowing that, if discovered, they would both be in
danger. Then the bombing starts.
The novel culminates
with the exposure of Lydia and Chang, and the tragedy it brings, but also the
exposure of Valentina’s secrets.
The novel depicts life
in the chaos of China at the time of Britain’s occupation: the brutality, the
secrets, the deceptions, and the double-standards. It is also the story of
Lydia transitioning into adulthood, full of resentment and rebellion.
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