Historical Fiction: The Russian Concubine

For my second book in the Historical Fiction Challenge, I read the Russian Concubine  by Kate Furnivall.  Set in 1920s China in the International Settlement, Lydia Ivanova is a Russian ... immigrant?  Refugee?  Her and her mother fled Russia when the Bolsheviks took over.

Lydia's mother wants her daughter to recieve a great education and grow up and go to college and be a doctor or a lawyer and never have to rely on a man for anything, as Valentina (her mother) has had to do.  She's stopped short of being a prostitute, but has really relyed on her beauty and charm to have men feed and provide for her an her daughter.

So anyway, Valentina is a bit of a drunk and during these periods Lydia steals so they can eat and pay rent.  On one of these such excursions in Junchow, she runs into a gang who try to kidnap her and sell her into slavery when she is rescused by Chang An Lo.  Chaos ensues from this point as the gang is angry with Chang for interfering and defending the foreigner above them, and there's a whole side story on the poppy trade, but you'll have to read it to get to all of that.

The first 200 pages were a bit of a chore, but it got good after that and I finished it rather quickly.  I did do a lot of skimming.  So clearly not my favorite book.  I can tell you why ... Chang is a Communist Freedom Fighter and soon Lydia (who's just been kicked out of Russia by Communists!?!) is wanting to become one too.  For no reason other than, well what's fair is fair and there has to be "balance."

While I can appreciate the backdrop of this story and the romance and the relationships, the political points in it had me rolling my eyes.  Russia fell into starvation and ruin when the Bolseviks took over and they still haven't fully recovered.  Even with the collapse of Communism in the late 80s.  Which, to be fair I'd say they are still quasi Communist today and Putin is inching ever closer to be a dictator that they can not get rid of.  Anyway the author is British and clearly I'm an American who has been raised on capitolism and freedom for all and this ridiculously romantic notion of Communism helping people just ... well is just stupid.

I liked the book, aside from this one fact, and am glad I got it at the used book store.  There is a sequel, The Girl from Junchow, which is set to come out in June so I'll probably pick it up.  So in the end, worth picking up from the library for the story of it all, but the historical accuracy and the ridiculousness of "balance" and Communism just sort of made me want to chuck the book out the window.