Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
The Harbour
It is the summer of 1940, and for Stevie Steiber, a young American journalist in Hong Kong, the war raging in Europe is a world away. While longing to be taken seriously as a writer, she keeps her readers informed about society gossip from the Orient, her days at the Happy Valley race-course slipping into dangerous, hedonistic nights.
Major Harry Field has been charged by H...more
Major Harry Field has been charged by H...more
Paperback, 340 pages
Published
July 1st 2012
by Bloomsbury UK
(first published June 7th 2012)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
94)
This review originally appeared at www.readinasinglesitting.com.
“Harry says she’s awfully intelligent.”
It’s a comment that’s dripping with contempt. The unnamed “she” of the sentence is Stevie Steiber, a forthright, forward woman who is not known for endearing herself to others by toeing the lines of propriety and mid-century gender roles. An American female journalist in 1940s Hong Kong, she’s all too aware of the forces of tradition and the boundaries placed on the feminine, and makes it her m...more
“Harry says she’s awfully intelligent.”
It’s a comment that’s dripping with contempt. The unnamed “she” of the sentence is Stevie Steiber, a forthright, forward woman who is not known for endearing herself to others by toeing the lines of propriety and mid-century gender roles. An American female journalist in 1940s Hong Kong, she’s all too aware of the forces of tradition and the boundaries placed on the feminine, and makes it her m...more
Sep 08, 2012
Sam
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people looking for a historical love story
Recommended to Sam by:
sent to me by the publisher
When I first began to read The Harbour, I felt worried. That kind of worried feeling when you realise that you’re at a party and you know absolutely no-one. This book doesn’t muck around – it’s straight into the action. Stevie, the protagonist, is whisked away from a day at Happy Valley racecourse by her Chinese husband Jishang to meet a Chinese matriarch. Why does Stevie want to meet Madame Kung? Why is she in Hong Kong if she loves Shanghai so much?
Patience does pay off though and soon we lear...more
Patience does pay off though and soon we lear...more
Set in Hong Kong during the 1940s, "The Harbour" follows the fortunes of American journalist Stephanie (Stevie) Steiber. Stevie meets a handsome British officer, Major Harry Field, who is investigating suspicious activity amongst new arrivals to the Crown colony. One of them is Stevie's Chinese partner Jishang with whom she publishes a supposedly non-partisan political magazine.
Stevie's work on a book about the Soong sisters also brings her into contact with both the Chinese Nationals and commun...more
Stevie's work on a book about the Soong sisters also brings her into contact with both the Chinese Nationals and commun...more
Stevie Steiber is a youngish American journalist working in South East Asia. Harry Field is a spy in the uniform of a British army major. Their love story is set among the British colony in 1940 Hong Kong, soon to be over-run by the Japanese.
Much depends upon the reader accepting the portrait of the volatile opium-smoking Stevie: volatile to the point of violent swings of character in a few seconds, arrogantly offensive then penitent. The basis of her initial relationship with the Chinese publis...more
Much depends upon the reader accepting the portrait of the volatile opium-smoking Stevie: volatile to the point of violent swings of character in a few seconds, arrogantly offensive then penitent. The basis of her initial relationship with the Chinese publis...more
In 1949, when he was just sixteen years old, my father left school and joined the navy. His first posting was in Hong Kong, and though he traveled to many places after that, it was Hong Kong that made the lasting impression, that he often spoke about.
The Harbour opens in Hong Kong some years earlier, in 1940, and it brought the place my father loved completely to life, and reminded me of so many of the things that he is no longer here to say.
The heroine of this particular story is Stevie Streibe...more
The Harbour opens in Hong Kong some years earlier, in 1940, and it brought the place my father loved completely to life, and reminded me of so many of the things that he is no longer here to say.
The heroine of this particular story is Stevie Streibe...more
"The Harbour is Francesca Brill’s first novel and has all the appearances of a beach read. But of course, we don’t judge books by their cover, and rightly so – for this is both deeper and flatter than a beach read. Flatter? Yes, but I’ll go into that more in a bit. In an overcrowded market, Brill manages to write a romance set in 1940 and make it feel fresh.
Our protagonist is Stevie Steiber, an American journalist in Hong Kong who throws herself into in this new culture. Stevie, however, is very...more
Our protagonist is Stevie Steiber, an American journalist in Hong Kong who throws herself into in this new culture. Stevie, however, is very...more
A half hearted stab at orientalism before the American protaganist abandons her Asian lover(?) and falls for a British officer. She is not sterotyped but could have been mis-typecast as a free-wheeling opium smoking columnist. Subplots are taken up and abandoned along the way as if the author was trying to find something substantial to latch onto but never quite achieving it. It falls onto the Japanese to provide much evil and drama to liven what is pretty much a plodding narrativr and old fashi...more
This book looked so much my cup of tea on the surface, but I found it an immense disappointment - stunning and utterly compelling it really wasn't. The book's in three parts - life in Hong Kong before the Japanese invasion, the horror of the occupation, and post war. The pre-war picture is really richly drawn, the partying ex-pat community and the immensely lavish lifestyles of the rich who live on the hill. It also introduces us to Stevie, American journalist married - apparently for convenienc...more
A good read, if not a slightly predictable love story set against the extraordinary backdrop of what happened in Hong Kong during the war. But a page turner certainly with some interesting (non-love story) twists and characters. It flitted between being beautifullly written, utterly engaging, to being a bit Mills and Boon-esque in places. Unfortunately I had recently read "The Thread" by Victoria Hislop - and book extraordinary both for its back drop AND its love story - which makes this look a...more
I really wanted to like this book more than I did but in the main it was rather a laborious read only really picking up well over halfway through. I couldn’t warm to Stevie Steiber at all – I found her selfish, rude, volatile and reckless. Her love interest, the very British Major Harry Field seemed to me to be a rather wooden character whenever he appeared in the story and I didn’t really get the feeling of any great passion from his side - either with the love affair or indeed anything else.
Th...more
Th...more
Nearly tossed it in the damned harbour...what a waste of material. It ought to be one star.
The agent who sold this one is damned genius...
So, great premise, location and time: done in TV and film and books a hundred times but still plenty of room for drama and there are moments that are gripping...but I spent more yelling out: oh please!
We get little sense of the build-up with all the expectation of invasion - none - and anyway, we don't care about so many people because the majority are all ras...more
The agent who sold this one is damned genius...
So, great premise, location and time: done in TV and film and books a hundred times but still plenty of room for drama and there are moments that are gripping...but I spent more yelling out: oh please!
We get little sense of the build-up with all the expectation of invasion - none - and anyway, we don't care about so many people because the majority are all ras...more
It is summer of 1940 in Hong Kong and Stevie Steiber is a young American ex-pat on the island by way of Shanghai. A journalist, she has mostly written glitzty gossipy columns, keeping people updated on the glamorous days of Happy Valley racecourse. Now she is attempting to undertake a serious project – the story of three influential sisters. She has secured the co-operation of two, but the third one remains elusive until she gets word from her Chinese boyfriend that Stevie has finally been grant...more
I so nearly stopped reading early on when one of the characters got out of a car 'unfolding his limbs like a sea anemone.' Oh, please!
However, it was a really good read. The characters all well-formed with twists and turns, maybe not so likeable at times but that all helps a novel along. I learned more about WW2 in Hong Kong than I had learned before and, although the romance running through it could be a little more Mills & Boon than I would have liked at times, I did enjoy this debut novel...more
However, it was a really good read. The characters all well-formed with twists and turns, maybe not so likeable at times but that all helps a novel along. I learned more about WW2 in Hong Kong than I had learned before and, although the romance running through it could be a little more Mills & Boon than I would have liked at times, I did enjoy this debut novel...more
Having grown up inHong Kong and lived in China, I was really looking forward to this. Well researched despite a few errors eg fruit bearing peach trees in hong kong in January...but I felt the characters a bit flat, spoiler coming......... Why does Harry not look up the heroine when he returns to new York? Otherwise quite enjoyable.
May 11, 2013
Carmel
added it
Apr 18, 2013
Jo
marked it as to-read
Apr 17, 2013
Sharon
marked it as to-read
Apr 09, 2013
Megan Bull
marked it as to-read
Apr 03, 2013
Vicky
added it
Mar 29, 2013
Tim Wong
added it
Mar 14, 2013
Clare
marked it as to-read
Feb 20, 2013
Mars
marked it as to-read
Feb 13, 2013
Donna
added it
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Oct 15, 2012 07:31am