What do you think?
After Shanghai
Shanghai ... in the twenties and thirties its name signified glamour, intrigue, and bizarre self-indulgence. Born there into a wealthy English ship-owning dynasty, Clio Oliver has a childhood as cloistered and lavish as that of any princess. When her grandfather's death summons her to England, she's still a child, but has some idea that Daddy has a new friend - one like those he used to know in China. Clio soon finds herself trapped between two cultures. As a married woman, she returns to Shanghai seeking the safe cocoon of her childhood - only to find deceit, betrayal, and the threat of Japanese destruction. But everything changes in time, she learns, and what endures is the memory.
512 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
About the author
Alison McLeay
16 books5 followers ALISON McLeay was an author with a special flair for historical and romantic fiction. Formerly a distinguished freelance radio presenter and producer with the BBC, she began writing in the mid-Seventies and went on to achieve a remarkable international readership throughout Europe and the United States, where she entered the bestseller lists.
After Dundee High School, where she was English dux, McLeay studied English and medieval history at St Andrews University.
While a student at Scotland's oldest university, she was a founder member of the biennial St Andrews Festival of Arts -organised and administered solely by students and, as such, unique in Europe - which became recognised as one of the principal international winter festivals in the country, although eventually folding during the Nineties.
After graduating from St Andrews, she went on to Glasgow University to complete a postgraduate course in radio drama, before joining the staff of the BBC.
She later became a freelance with BBC Radio in a wide variety of live morning programmes on Radio Scotland, on occasion presenting and producing Woman's Hour and Kaleidoscope, and also writing drama productions.
On her marriage to Simon Martin, a former journalist and salvage diver, in 1980, she returned to St Andrews where she was to live for the rest of her life. The couple set up and operated the town's first wine bar, and later a cookshop.
Her first book, The World of The Onedin Line, about the real-life seamen's world behind the popular television series, was published in 1977. "I kept trying to reassure myself that I had a book in me, until one day I bunged the manuscript down to a publisher and within a week I had an acceptance."
Her second book, Tobermory Treasure, which appeared in 1986, told the story of the Spanish Armada ship wrecked off Mull with its fabulous cargo worth $30 million. Such was her meticulous attention to detail in the research for her books that she learned to dive to join the salvage team involved with the Spanish galleon. She also scripted and produced a Radio 4 feature on the 400-year search for the vessel.
But it was not until the publication of her first novel, The Wayward Tide, in 1990, that McLeay became a formidable player in the literary market for historical romance. The book became an instant best-seller, and was labelled "the most stunning fiction debut in years" by Publishers' Weekly in America, where the first print run reached an astonishing 100,000 copies. The Wayward Tide was published in ten different languages.
The sea, travel and the lure of distant lands, played a central role in her tales of love and life. Her second novel, Sweet Exile, set in New Orleans and the Fens in England, followed soon afterwards. Her next, The Dream Maker, was set in Hudson's Bay. This was followed by After Shanghai and The Summer House, the paperback of which is due to be published later this month. Her recent works have proved to be particularly popular in France and Germany.
McLeay travelled to many parts of the world to carry out research for her books. "If you are going to have the feel of the place, you have to go there," she once said. Her other interests included cooking, gardening, painting, collages and reading.
Alison McLeay is survived by her husband and their 12-year-old son, Richard.
- Source: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi...
After Dundee High School, where she was English dux, McLeay studied English and medieval history at St Andrews University.
While a student at Scotland's oldest university, she was a founder member of the biennial St Andrews Festival of Arts -organised and administered solely by students and, as such, unique in Europe - which became recognised as one of the principal international winter festivals in the country, although eventually folding during the Nineties.
After graduating from St Andrews, she went on to Glasgow University to complete a postgraduate course in radio drama, before joining the staff of the BBC.
She later became a freelance with BBC Radio in a wide variety of live morning programmes on Radio Scotland, on occasion presenting and producing Woman's Hour and Kaleidoscope, and also writing drama productions.
On her marriage to Simon Martin, a former journalist and salvage diver, in 1980, she returned to St Andrews where she was to live for the rest of her life. The couple set up and operated the town's first wine bar, and later a cookshop.
Her first book, The World of The Onedin Line, about the real-life seamen's world behind the popular television series, was published in 1977. "I kept trying to reassure myself that I had a book in me, until one day I bunged the manuscript down to a publisher and within a week I had an acceptance."
Her second book, Tobermory Treasure, which appeared in 1986, told the story of the Spanish Armada ship wrecked off Mull with its fabulous cargo worth $30 million. Such was her meticulous attention to detail in the research for her books that she learned to dive to join the salvage team involved with the Spanish galleon. She also scripted and produced a Radio 4 feature on the 400-year search for the vessel.
But it was not until the publication of her first novel, The Wayward Tide, in 1990, that McLeay became a formidable player in the literary market for historical romance. The book became an instant best-seller, and was labelled "the most stunning fiction debut in years" by Publishers' Weekly in America, where the first print run reached an astonishing 100,000 copies. The Wayward Tide was published in ten different languages.
The sea, travel and the lure of distant lands, played a central role in her tales of love and life. Her second novel, Sweet Exile, set in New Orleans and the Fens in England, followed soon afterwards. Her next, The Dream Maker, was set in Hudson's Bay. This was followed by After Shanghai and The Summer House, the paperback of which is due to be published later this month. Her recent works have proved to be particularly popular in France and Germany.
McLeay travelled to many parts of the world to carry out research for her books. "If you are going to have the feel of the place, you have to go there," she once said. Her other interests included cooking, gardening, painting, collages and reading.
Alison McLeay is survived by her husband and their 12-year-old son, Richard.
- Source: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 2, 2013
AFTER SHANGHAI
Alison McLeay
Many years ago I read a novel called The Wayward Tide, written by Alison McLeay. It was a wonderful book, one to keep for re-reading every decade or so (being a rather hefty tome).
For many years I had another of her books, After Shanghai, in one of my many ‘to read’ stacks and have only now gotten around to it. There were a couple of other McLeay novels in-between, neither of which matched the magnificence of Tide.
Only now have I found its equal.
After Shanghai is the story of Clio Oliver, a member of the Oliver shipping family. She was born in Shanghai and returns to it as a married woman at a time when Japan is expanding its empire further and further into Chinese territory.
Initially the many cousins and other family hangers-on that filled the early chapters confused me. But once Clio embarks on a life-changing trans-Atlantic cruise, identities and allegiances quickly become clear.
Clio’s story, told in first person narrative with the hindsight of age, spans the giddy years between two world wars, the Second World War during which she is exiled from the exotic east in a Scottish manor. However, things are far from lively once an old friend comes to convalesce from war wounds.
After Shanghai is a story of family relationships, fidelity, betrayal and renewal. It is one woman’s saga against an atmospheric backdrop of changing locales on a number of continents. But always the shadow of Shanghai looms large in her story, along with the relationships forged there.
After Shanghai now sits alongside The Wayward Tide in my collection, waiting to be re-read some time in the future when once again I want to get lost in its pages, people and places.
Alison McLeay
Many years ago I read a novel called The Wayward Tide, written by Alison McLeay. It was a wonderful book, one to keep for re-reading every decade or so (being a rather hefty tome).
For many years I had another of her books, After Shanghai, in one of my many ‘to read’ stacks and have only now gotten around to it. There were a couple of other McLeay novels in-between, neither of which matched the magnificence of Tide.
Only now have I found its equal.
After Shanghai is the story of Clio Oliver, a member of the Oliver shipping family. She was born in Shanghai and returns to it as a married woman at a time when Japan is expanding its empire further and further into Chinese territory.
Initially the many cousins and other family hangers-on that filled the early chapters confused me. But once Clio embarks on a life-changing trans-Atlantic cruise, identities and allegiances quickly become clear.
Clio’s story, told in first person narrative with the hindsight of age, spans the giddy years between two world wars, the Second World War during which she is exiled from the exotic east in a Scottish manor. However, things are far from lively once an old friend comes to convalesce from war wounds.
After Shanghai is a story of family relationships, fidelity, betrayal and renewal. It is one woman’s saga against an atmospheric backdrop of changing locales on a number of continents. But always the shadow of Shanghai looms large in her story, along with the relationships forged there.
After Shanghai now sits alongside The Wayward Tide in my collection, waiting to be re-read some time in the future when once again I want to get lost in its pages, people and places.
April 6, 2010
My favourite book af all time. I don't remember when I first read it, but I have read it every year since. As soon as I finish it, I want to start it all over again.
August 30, 2011
Gorgeously sentimental, it's easy to forgive this book its overwritten pomp and sparkle, and appreciate it for the solid historical romance romp it is.
February 22, 2014
So Slow---finally read the end and had predicted it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews