Synopses & Reviews
Review
"This is the hilarious and swashbuckling odyssey of a lecherous 19th-century wheeler-dealer art collector, who buys opium in India which he barters for porcelain in China for eventual resale at great profit to the nobility in London. If he were not a macho young Dutchman named Carolus Van Cleef, you would swear that he was Tom Jones with a foreign accent. In any event, you will roar at the wild escapades on each and every page unless you are repelled by his sexism and rejoice in his ultimate comeuppance as he is shanghaied on the last page." Reviewed by Andrew Witmer, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)