The Yellow Emperor's Cure-------pan macmillan
Lisbon, 1898: Philandering surgeon Antonio Maria discovers his
father is dying of syphilis, scourge of both rich and poor. Determined
to find a cure, he sets sail for Peking to study under the renowned Dr
Xu, hoping that traditional Chinese medicine has the answer that eludes
the West. But the master is evasive, and when Antonio encounters the
alluringly independent Fumi, he finds first love that compels him to
question everything he has known.
As he wrestles with his
disbelief over ‘irrational’ Chinese views about illness, violence
threatens to break out across China. The infamous Boxer rebellion
separates the lovers during a siege at the Summer Palace, and Antonio
must decide whether to flee or to stay in China to solve the deep
mystery of Fumi’s haunted past and discover for himself the Yellow
Emperor’s cure.
‘A wonderful and compellingly visual novel, whose
world is as completely realised as anything by Robert Graves, Amitav
Ghosh or Barry Unsworth’—William Dalrymple
‘Each time Kunal Basu
uncorks his magician's bottle of historical memory and desire, he
brings forth a genie of such ambitious powers that the reader is left
overwhelmed . . . Basu's account is like that of a gilded butterfly
fluttering in the Yellow Emperor's cage of curiosities. One more pipe of
opium, please, Kunal.’—Geeta Doctor in India Today
‘A love story set on a lavish scale, Basu’s novel is a visual delight and a gripping read’.—Tabish Khair in Outlook
‘The Yellow Emperor’s Cure,
is the Kind of book that sucks you in so completely that when you pause
in the reading, you have to blink and wait to drop back into the
perfectly banal present to notice that your breakfast, lunch or dinner
is going cold at your elbow. Don’t miss it’—Mitali Saran in DNA