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Series
The Asian Saga is a sequence of large-scale novels about European and Asian encounters across nearly four centuries. Its chronological reading order moves from civil war in Japan in 1600 through the creation of British Hong Kong, the opening of treaty-port Japan, a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, Cold War Hong Kong and the Iranian Revolution.
The books share families, companies, inherited rivalries and recurring ideas rather than one continuous cast. Trade, empire, war, religion and cultural misunderstanding shape personal relationships in every period. Escape is retained as the seventh entry in this export, but it is a shorter reworking of part of Whirlwind rather than a new historical continuation.
Reading order
In 1600 the English pilot John Blackthorne is shipwrecked in Japan with the surviving crew of the Dutch vessel Erasmus. Unable to speak the language and treated as both a potential pirate and a useful source of knowledge, he is drawn into the struggle between Lord…
After Britain occupies Hong Kong during the First Opium War, merchant prince Dirk Struan intends to make the new island the permanent base of his trading house. His plans depend on maritime power, credit, opium profits and political influence, all of which are contested by his…
In 1862 Malcolm Struan, heir to the Noble House, is badly wounded when foreign riders are attacked near Yokohama. The incident intensifies conflict between the treaty-port community, the Tokugawa authorities and samurai factions determined to expel foreigners and restore political power to the emperor. Malcolm’s relationship…
In the final months of the Second World War, Allied prisoners at Changi survive on inadequate rations, rumour and a camp economy in which almost everything can be traded. An American corporal known as the King has used black-market skill to gain food, influence and protection…
In Hong Kong in 1963, Ian Dunross becomes tai-pan of Struan’s and inherits a company threatened by debt, hostile takeover and the accumulated rivalries of the Noble House. He seeks American investment while Quillan Gornt uses financial pressure and family grievance to bring the company down.…
In February 1979, Struan’s helicopter crews are scattered across Iran as the monarchy collapses and revolutionary forces compete for control. With airports, roads and communications becoming unreliable, the company attempts to evacuate its personnel and aircraft before local alliances and official permissions disappear completely. The pilots’…
The Shah is thrown out of Iran and the nation's turmoil becomes world headlines. Caught in this shifting world of fanaticism, ambition, duplicity, heartbreak and violent death are the foreign helicopter pilots who have been servicing the oilfields up and down the country. Their one objective…