From the bestselling author of My Other Life comes a witty novel set against the backdrop of Hong Kong's reunification with China. Neville "Bunt" Mullard and his mother Betty see Hong Kong as part Great Britain a cozy, monotonous, beguilingly pleasant part, in which the family business has afforded them a comfortable living. They can see China from their living room, but they have never been there. Here in Hong Kong it is possible to despise Chinese food while enjoying big breakfasts, high tea, the race meetings at Happy Valley, and the "Blue hotels" of Kowloon Tong, where Bunt sometimes rents a room by the hour Certainly they have never been forced to think about the impending "Chinese take-away" until mainland businessman Mr. Hugo offer them a tidy sum for their textile factory. Bunt refuses him out of hand, but it soon emerges that this well-spoken gentleman is different from the Hong Kong Chinese the Mullards have lived alongside for years: Mr. Hung will accept no refusals. The disappearance of a young woman from the factory forces Bunt, for the first time in his forty-three years, to make decisions that matter and perhaps to discover love.

PAUL THEROUX published his novel, Waldo, in 1967. His subsequent novels include. The Family Arsenal, Picture Palace, The Mosquito Coast, Milroy the Magiciam, Half Moon Street, My Secret, My Other Life, and, most recently, Kowloon Tong. His highly acclaimed travel books include Riding the Iron Rooster, The Great Railway Bazaar, The Old Patagonian Express, and The Happy Isles of Oceania. Saint Jack, The Mosquito Coast, and Half Moon Street have been made into successful films. He lives in Hawaii and on Cope Cod.