This most amazing book took me on a journey that was deep, vivid, and brilliantly written.

I felt like I was part of the exotic odyssey of Sir Robert Hart, the 19th century British Inspector General of China's Customs Service. So well-written was the book, I was there, side-by-side with Hart, discovering the Chinese culture along with him, learning about the joys and dangers of colonial China just as Hart learns of them.

Because author Lloyd Lofthouse is a master at infusing fact with story, mixin More...

My Splendid Concubine by Lloyd Lofthouse
Three Clover Press
Trade Paperback
250 pages
Historical Fiction

My Splendid Concubine by Lloyd Lofthouse is about Robert Hart. The bare facts are that in 1854, Hart left Ireland under a cloud for China to fill the role of interpreter for the British consulate. He immersed himself into the Chinese culture and learned the language and Chinese thinking so well that he was the first foreigner to become the Inspector General of China’s Customs Service. He lived in More...

A fascinating trip into a lost world, Lofthouse does a great job taking us back in time to a beautiful, almost mythical China. But Lofthouse doesn't shy away from balancing the romantic with the reality. We are not spared the poverty, violence, colonial or sexual exploitation.

His protagonist, Robert Hart, is an engaging character, caught between the morals of his religious Irish background, and his unquenchable thirst to understand the ancient Chinese culture. Sometimes it’s hard to understand h More...

Having two, delicate as a flower, sisters fighting over which one gets your sun instrument for the night, is probably an unrealized fantasy of most men walking the planet. But, for Robert Hart, a randy, runaway from his puritanical Irish background, it is a dream that comes true. Inspired by a man who arrived in China in 1854 who rose to great respected heights, this character has just that problem. The sensual descriptions to bring home how wonderful this dilemma was for him was for me a bit ov More...

Robert Hart, a young Irishman, came to China in 1854 to work for the British Consulate. He ended up spending his life there and becoming intricately involved in the development of modern China, helping to found the railroads, postal service and schools.

This novel fictionalizes Robert's first year or so in China. He is confronted almost immediately by the vast moral differences between eastern culture and the Christianity that he has grown up with. He has a hard time reconciling the Chinese prac More...

What a delightful novel! Okay, maybe delightful is the wrong word because although there were plenty of female characters in the book, and the topics were the ones that usually interest me, there was still a lot of killing, rape, threats, and slavery going on, and I'm very happy I didn't live in China during the 19th century. I'm also happy I didn't have to live out my existence as someone else's concubine / slave. What a horrible life!

Still, the novel was delightful in that it did talk about lo More...

I was a bit disappointed with this book. I had high hopes for it but found it really lacking. I thought it would be about Hart's life in China, his work, how he became so valued by the Chinese government, etc. It was primarily about Hart's constant struggle with his religious beliefs and the keeping of concubines....I thought this would just be one part of the story but instead it overpowered everything else. I didn't need some of the detailed descriptions of Hart's sexual encounters to understa More...

Those who are interested in China will find this novel on the life of Robert Hart fascinating. In Chinese the pictogram for happiness is one man and one woman under one roof -- Hart, an Irishman of Wesleyan religious persuasion who was working in China for the British government in the mid-19th century, apparently was the uncomfortable possessor of two concubines. Lloyd Lofthouse uses the novel to explore this gentleman's conundrum.

I'm giving four rather than five stars because i was less than More...

Writing a book is hard. As a writer, I know how difficult it is to put the pen to paper and put what you have to say out there for the world to see and then be ripped apart. I try to be fair in my reviews and, even when they aren't very good, look for the positive and leave the choice of whether or not to read the book up to my readers. My reviews are my opinion - nothing more.

But sometimes, you come across a book that is so bad that it becomes a moral duty to spare others the pain of reading it More...

Fans of historical fiction literature might be astonished to realize that in author James Michener’s vast catalog of titles, not one of his 40+ best-sellers takes place in China. Despite the wandering scribbler’s voracious appetite for geography and history, and claiming “the world is my home,” apparently the 9.5 million sq. km., 5,000 year-old China was a bit much for the late Michener to take on in his twilight years.

Whether this is due to China’s notorious cultural and geographical inaccessi More...

Fans of historical fiction literature might be astonished to realize that in author James Michener’s vast catalog of titles, not one of his 40+ best-sellers takes place in China. Despite the wandering scribbler’s voracious appetite for geography and history, and claiming “the world is my home,” apparently the 9.5 million sq. km., 5,000 year-old China was a bit much for the late Michener to take on in his twilight years.

Whether this is due to China’s notorious cultural and geographical inaccessib More...

This could have been a 'splendid' biography of Sir Robert Hart, a British ex-pat who had an illustrious career in China starting in the British consulate and becoming the Inspector general of China. He was renowned for his diplomatic and managerial skills and was fluent in mandarin and customs of China. However the book reads like some kind of soft porn with his concubines and only touches on what life in China would have been like in the late 1800's. I go fed up reading about his erect member.. More...

This book is a fictionalized account of Robert Hart who was known as the 'Godfather of China's modernism'. Hart was born and raised in Ireland . In 1954 we went to China to work for the British Consulate as an interpreter.

Robert Hart was set on making up for his days of drinking and womanizing in Ireland. He went to China to prove himself and "grow up." When faced with the possibility of getting a concubine for himself, he felt quite conflicted. However, it was what men did in China, even most o More...

I was kept captivated with how the story was leading on for ages. It kept me feeling that I wanted more to happen, but it didn't happen. The ending was quiet abrupt and left too much to the imagination. Maybe the second book will cover more of the story that leads on, but I wished that this book would have finished with a better conclusion.

I found this review at the Midwest Book Review Website. They also posted a copy at Amazon.com
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"Love for ones wives' sister is typically forbidden by most western religions, but the most successful westerner in Chinese history is faced with this conflict. "My Splendid Concubine" is the tale of Robert Hart who deals with the matters of his lust and how to deal with them the Chinese way, which so conflict with his upbringing. The Taiping Rebellion doesn't help matters, him making enemies of est More...

China in late 1800’s and an Irishman with Catholic guilt trying to cope. Would have left out some of the history or woven it more intricately into the love story. Interesting insights into a different culture and its extreme treatment of its women.

Mr. Lloyd Lofthouse did an amazing job with My Splendid Concubine. I thought Sir Robert Hart’s story was a beautiful one of romance for both his concubines as well as the country of China. I have to admit I have never heard of Sir Robert Hart but after reading his story I have a great admiration for what he did in addition to his determination to learn the culture there and become a Chinamen. You can definitely tell all the labor of love Mr. Lloyd Lofthouse put into writing My Splendid Concubine More...

Don't like the author's propensity for info dump. Seems too enamored of his research.

Interesting I guess. Was surprised that Anchee Min did the intro.

Historical fiction set in China, just up my alley...

I guess I should have expected this book to be all about the concubines, but I still was expecting more about the life of Robert Hart. He sounded like such an interesting man, so to focus only on his dilemma of taking two women as concubine seems a bit narrow sighted. I would have loved to have actually learned about how he became influential to the government of China since this period in Chinese history was so tumultuous. Not a bad book, but lacking where I wanted.

Story about Robert Hart. Thought it would be more about Robert Hart and about China, but turned out to be more about his love life. If it wasn't for my Kindle reading it to me, I don't think I would've read this book.

Pretentious and yet oddly prurient. More in comments.

This is a very interesting book by the husband of Anchee Min. The insights into the Chinese mind and culture are wonderful. The character development is powerful but the ability to create empathy for the concubines is missing somehow. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fiction.

Enjoyed it but in parts it seemed like more of a culture or history account rather than a novel.

I didn't finish. I couldn't. The storyline was interesting, but the writing did not work for me.