Tuesday, August 11, 2009

The Girl from Junchow by Kate Furnivall

The Girl from Junchow is the sequel to The Russian Concubine. The plot of this novel has been woven into Stalinist Russia and the way the author portrays the time period is incredible. The book continues the struggles of Lydia, a teenage Russian refugee brought up in 1920's China, as she returns to Russia in search of her imprisoned father. She is accompanied by her half-brother Alexei and friend Liev. Her Chinese lover from the first book becomes a much more believable character in this book. There are also numerous secondary characters which Furnivall develops well. All in all a great historical fiction.