Dragon’s Blood

Name: Dragon’s Blood
Rating: 4.37 (373 reviews)

by Christopher Nicole Book 2 in the Pearl of the Orient series.

First published 1989

Amazon

4.3(373)

As Michael Harrington, Irish desperado, approaches the coast of India, his death by hanging seems inevitable. Only the luckiest of chances allows him to escape. As he makes his way through a hostile landscape, Michael is alone and friendless in a strange land. A meeting with a local man and his family marks the turning point. When they take him in and offer his hospitality, Michael returns the favour by saving their lives. And then, accompanied by the family’s daughter, Malama, Michael sets off for a new life.

A life on the edges of polite European society. A life fraught with danger. In time, that life takes Michael to Singapore, and from there to China, where he sees first-hand the horrors of the opium trade and experiences the political turmoil that is about to wreak havoc on that country. And against this backdrop, Michael falls in love. Michael Harrington’s movement from India to Singapore and China gives the second volume a migrant outsider’s view of commercial expansion, opium and the military violence used to protect European trade.