Empress Orchid

· Bloomsbury Publishing
4.8
27 reviews
Ebook
352
Pages
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About this ebook

'Empress Orchid is strong on both sexual chicanery and violent conspiracy ... fascinating' GUARDIAN

'An engrossing story ... enhanced by Min's imaginative power ... Like all good novelists, she implies as much as she says, and her characterisation is subtle and worldly-wise' GLASGOW HERALD
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It is the 19th century, and China is in chaos. One woman will rise from poverty to change its history for ever.

To rescue her family from poverty and avoid marrying her slope-shouldered cousin, seventeen-year-old Orchid competes to be one of the Emperor's wives.

When she is chosen as a lower-ranking concubine she enters the erotically charged and ritualised Forbidden City. But beneath its immaculate façade lie whispers of murders and ghosts, and the thousands of concubines will stoop to any lengths to bear the Emperor's son.

Orchid trains herself in the art of pleasuring a man, bribes her way into the royal bed, and seduces the monarch, drawing the attention of dangerous foes. Little does she know that China will collapse around her, and that she will be its last Empress...

Ratings and reviews

4.8
27 reviews
Eleanor Hutchins (Lucretzia)
May 26, 2014
Excellent, I could hardly put it down. A place and period in history I had not encountered before,the beauty, splendour and opulence of the City and its inhabitants is beautifully described. I would love to learn more!
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Reboni Saha
October 30, 2018
Captivating account of the Manchu dynasty from a feminine perspective. Could have been made better with less contemporary syntax. So while the author absorbs you into the folds of history, ill fitting choice of words or descriptors jolt you out of the story into the present. Despite that, a very enjoyable read.
1 person found this review helpful
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A Google user
February 25, 2012
It was slow in the beginning but the characters and theie feelings really grow on you until you're left wandering what happens next even after the story ends
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About the author

Anchee Min was born in Shanghai in 1957. At seventeen she was sent to a labour collective, where a talent scout for Madame Mao's Shanghai Film Studio recruited her to work as a movie actress. She moved to the United States in 1984.

Her memoir, Red Azalea, was an international bestseller with rights sold in twenty countries. Her novels, Becoming Madame Mao, Katherine and Wild Ginger were published to wonderful reviews and impressive foreign sales.

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