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The Court of the Flowering Peach
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- GenresHistorical Romance
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 23, 2015
I really love this book, it has a place on my keeper shelf as a truly beautiful bittersweet love story.
Katie the h is a clerk for the Llewellyn family who are Chinese importers in London. Katie has studied with her father all her young life and knows quite a bit about China and it's art forms and customs. When her father dies she is pressured into marrying Rupert Llywellyn because the family business needs her expertise but Rupert is unfortunately in love with his sister in law Selina, who is basically a skank out for the main chance and married to Terrence, Rupert's brother.
Katie isn't valued by Rupert very much as a person, in fact no one in the Llewellyn household really seems to appreciate her much. When they all travel to China for trade, Selina causes one scandal after another, which cause Rupert and Terrence to dance attendance upon her and it is left to Katie to actually conduct the business they came for. Katie is noticed by a Manchu Prince named Chen Yee, who seems to value her far more than anyone else does.
Selina dumps a very ill Katie on Chen Yee and persuades Rupert that Katie ran off to be with her lover and that Rupert and Terrence should return with her to England. Chen Yee sees his chance and convinces Katie to become his concubine. This leads to Katie fully developing as a person in her own right. Chen Yee dearly loves her and she comes to love him just as much. She can never get over being a foreign woman in a strange land though and this causes her and Chen Yee to separate as lovers. She has had Chen Yee's son during this time and finally Rupert comes back for her. She goes with Rupert back to England and leaves her son behind to be raised as Chen Yee's heir as her son will never be accepted in England due to his mixed heritage.
Rupert is shocked by how much Katie has grown and matured during the two years they were apart and falls in love with how beautiful she has become. He is also surprised by how Katie has developed as an artist during the time apart and finally realizes he is married to a woman whose price is above rubies. He devotes considerable time to making Katie fall in love with him all over again and also realizes that Selina is all dazzle and no substance. He kicks Selina out, makes babies with Katie and lets loose that Welsh charm he has been hiding all this time.
My take is this book is a keeper. Katie has a lot of grief to get through and nothing in this book is without the undertone of sadness. Katie will always be torn between two worlds and I believe the Chen Yee loved and valued her more, but there was just no way for the two to be happy together. Chen Yee couldn't marry her and she would always be the outsider with him and Rupert wasn't as overtly passionate or as sensitive an H as Chen Yee. Rupert is no slacker once he gets his priorities right but Chen Yee had the better character and I love how Ms. Radcliffe managed to work in bits of Taoism and Confuscianism into his personality and actions.
Chen Yee was a very bitter angry man with an absolute beast for a wife. With Katie he becomes a great romantic hero and their love affair was truly moving. As Katie becomes more and more homesick, it is sad to see the passion fade away and Chen Yee turns his attentions to another Chinese girl who is seen as more appropriate to his status. Katie is jealous of course and my heart ached for her as she realizes that by rejecting Chen Yee, she is going to give him up.
The feelings are conveyed very delicately and are very mixed, I felt Katie's jealousy and pain but her replacement is a truly nice person and I also felt Katie's acceptance and affection for the other girl. I also felt Katie's fierce longing to be back among familiar people and places and with her own countrymen but at the same time she is delighted to be able fully express herself as an artist. I felt Katie's love for her son and her heartbreak when she understands that he will be rejected if she takes him back to England. Chen Yee really does love her and I believe he wanted her to stay, he tells her so many times, but he understands that she can't be truly happy and complete with him and so he lets her go back to Rupert.
As Rupert and Katie rebuild their relationship, you also feel the love grow between them and although Rupert is an idiot about Katie until the last third of the book, I couldn't help but like him as he tried to do his best to be a good person and husband. Rupert's understanding about what real love is grows as he courts Katie on their return to England so that by the time they get back, you really believe he loves Katie as much as Chen Yee did.
The really good thing about this bittersweet love story is Ms. Radcliffe very ably describes how a woman could have two great loves in her life. There is no sense of second best in any way by the end of the book. The choices Katie has to make are well delineated and I felt the path Katie took really was the one to make her the most happy and fulfilled as a person and as a lover. I was glad to see the great love Rupert finally felt for her, and I was delighted that Chen Yee was smart enough to see the person Katie could be and take the time to help her grow.
This book does have an undertone of sadness, but it isn't the jagged harsh edge of grief and angsty pain. The story reads like a watercolor-- muted, soft and flowing but no less emotive and moving for all that it really isn't a harsh bodice ripper of a book. Ms. Radcliffe manages through words to convey that sense of delicacy that really good Chinese art has, it is subtle but poignant and almost stark in its simplicity but very powerfully emotive and that is why I really like this book.
Katie the h is a clerk for the Llewellyn family who are Chinese importers in London. Katie has studied with her father all her young life and knows quite a bit about China and it's art forms and customs. When her father dies she is pressured into marrying Rupert Llywellyn because the family business needs her expertise but Rupert is unfortunately in love with his sister in law Selina, who is basically a skank out for the main chance and married to Terrence, Rupert's brother.
Katie isn't valued by Rupert very much as a person, in fact no one in the Llewellyn household really seems to appreciate her much. When they all travel to China for trade, Selina causes one scandal after another, which cause Rupert and Terrence to dance attendance upon her and it is left to Katie to actually conduct the business they came for. Katie is noticed by a Manchu Prince named Chen Yee, who seems to value her far more than anyone else does.
Selina dumps a very ill Katie on Chen Yee and persuades Rupert that Katie ran off to be with her lover and that Rupert and Terrence should return with her to England. Chen Yee sees his chance and convinces Katie to become his concubine. This leads to Katie fully developing as a person in her own right. Chen Yee dearly loves her and she comes to love him just as much. She can never get over being a foreign woman in a strange land though and this causes her and Chen Yee to separate as lovers. She has had Chen Yee's son during this time and finally Rupert comes back for her. She goes with Rupert back to England and leaves her son behind to be raised as Chen Yee's heir as her son will never be accepted in England due to his mixed heritage.
Rupert is shocked by how much Katie has grown and matured during the two years they were apart and falls in love with how beautiful she has become. He is also surprised by how Katie has developed as an artist during the time apart and finally realizes he is married to a woman whose price is above rubies. He devotes considerable time to making Katie fall in love with him all over again and also realizes that Selina is all dazzle and no substance. He kicks Selina out, makes babies with Katie and lets loose that Welsh charm he has been hiding all this time.
My take is this book is a keeper. Katie has a lot of grief to get through and nothing in this book is without the undertone of sadness. Katie will always be torn between two worlds and I believe the Chen Yee loved and valued her more, but there was just no way for the two to be happy together. Chen Yee couldn't marry her and she would always be the outsider with him and Rupert wasn't as overtly passionate or as sensitive an H as Chen Yee. Rupert is no slacker once he gets his priorities right but Chen Yee had the better character and I love how Ms. Radcliffe managed to work in bits of Taoism and Confuscianism into his personality and actions.
Chen Yee was a very bitter angry man with an absolute beast for a wife. With Katie he becomes a great romantic hero and their love affair was truly moving. As Katie becomes more and more homesick, it is sad to see the passion fade away and Chen Yee turns his attentions to another Chinese girl who is seen as more appropriate to his status. Katie is jealous of course and my heart ached for her as she realizes that by rejecting Chen Yee, she is going to give him up.
The feelings are conveyed very delicately and are very mixed, I felt Katie's jealousy and pain but her replacement is a truly nice person and I also felt Katie's acceptance and affection for the other girl. I also felt Katie's fierce longing to be back among familiar people and places and with her own countrymen but at the same time she is delighted to be able fully express herself as an artist. I felt Katie's love for her son and her heartbreak when she understands that he will be rejected if she takes him back to England. Chen Yee really does love her and I believe he wanted her to stay, he tells her so many times, but he understands that she can't be truly happy and complete with him and so he lets her go back to Rupert.
As Rupert and Katie rebuild their relationship, you also feel the love grow between them and although Rupert is an idiot about Katie until the last third of the book, I couldn't help but like him as he tried to do his best to be a good person and husband. Rupert's understanding about what real love is grows as he courts Katie on their return to England so that by the time they get back, you really believe he loves Katie as much as Chen Yee did.
The really good thing about this bittersweet love story is Ms. Radcliffe very ably describes how a woman could have two great loves in her life. There is no sense of second best in any way by the end of the book. The choices Katie has to make are well delineated and I felt the path Katie took really was the one to make her the most happy and fulfilled as a person and as a lover. I was glad to see the great love Rupert finally felt for her, and I was delighted that Chen Yee was smart enough to see the person Katie could be and take the time to help her grow.
This book does have an undertone of sadness, but it isn't the jagged harsh edge of grief and angsty pain. The story reads like a watercolor-- muted, soft and flowing but no less emotive and moving for all that it really isn't a harsh bodice ripper of a book. Ms. Radcliffe manages through words to convey that sense of delicacy that really good Chinese art has, it is subtle but poignant and almost stark in its simplicity but very powerfully emotive and that is why I really like this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 19, 2025
The shitty hero loved and trusted the odious OW, and put his wife as second best for waaaaaaaaayyyyyy too long for me to forgive him, even if Mary Sue did. And the OW did not get anywhere near comeuppance. Also the overall story is just too sad for me :(
Healing Epilogue:
The heroine dumps both her faithless Chinese Prince lover AND her worthless British husband, takes custody of her son, and they both sail to America to make a new life and a fresh start away from the machinations, put-down, plots, and hatred of their respective families. She makes her way to California where she wisely invests in gold mines and makes a killing. She builds a massive estate on Nob Hill and using her money, language skills and appreciation of Chinese culture, creates many institutions designed to improve cultural understanding and socio-economic relations between the European and Chinese settlers in San Francisco. She meets a handsome, charismatic, wealthy man, himself the son of a Chinese immigrant and French immigrant, who has made his own fortune and devotes himself to the same causes. They fall in love, marry and he adopts her son, and they proceed to make many more babies and grandbabies who go on to become happy, successful scions of society.
Back in China, the Prince goes through many more concubines and wives but he is never able to beget another son and his dynasty dies with him. He spends the rest of his life regretting the fact that he cheated on the kind, intelligent heroine who gave him his beautiful son and drove her away by threatening to kick her out and keeping exclusive custody of the baby.
As for the worthless piece of excrement first husband of the heroine who treated her so horribly like a second class citizen while coveting the odious, skanky wife of his own brother, who abandoned her and forgot about her for years, and who STILL could not worship her like the Queen she is even after being so lucky as to find her again, he gets exactly what he deserves, which is his brother's now widow. It takes months, not even years, for OW to drive him completely mad with her many affairs and her endless appetite for clothes, jewels, and gambling, ending in total bankruptcy of his family business and the sale of all his real property, business property and worldly goods. Even when he tries to commit suicide to end it all, he fails miserably and instead, he is arrested and must spend the rest of his days toiling in Debtor's Prison in a dark, dank cell filled with rats and urine-soaked straw, where in the pitch blackness, all he can remember are little vignettes of memories of his beautiful, kind, intelligent wife. Only in this contemplation can he finally put two and two together and realize how he has been played by the OW, how he has failed his wife utterly, and how he is an ugly worm fit for his final destiny in hell!
Healing Epilogue:
The heroine dumps both her faithless Chinese Prince lover AND her worthless British husband, takes custody of her son, and they both sail to America to make a new life and a fresh start away from the machinations, put-down, plots, and hatred of their respective families. She makes her way to California where she wisely invests in gold mines and makes a killing. She builds a massive estate on Nob Hill and using her money, language skills and appreciation of Chinese culture, creates many institutions designed to improve cultural understanding and socio-economic relations between the European and Chinese settlers in San Francisco. She meets a handsome, charismatic, wealthy man, himself the son of a Chinese immigrant and French immigrant, who has made his own fortune and devotes himself to the same causes. They fall in love, marry and he adopts her son, and they proceed to make many more babies and grandbabies who go on to become happy, successful scions of society.
Back in China, the Prince goes through many more concubines and wives but he is never able to beget another son and his dynasty dies with him. He spends the rest of his life regretting the fact that he cheated on the kind, intelligent heroine who gave him his beautiful son and drove her away by threatening to kick her out and keeping exclusive custody of the baby.
As for the worthless piece of excrement first husband of the heroine who treated her so horribly like a second class citizen while coveting the odious, skanky wife of his own brother, who abandoned her and forgot about her for years, and who STILL could not worship her like the Queen she is even after being so lucky as to find her again, he gets exactly what he deserves, which is his brother's now widow. It takes months, not even years, for OW to drive him completely mad with her many affairs and her endless appetite for clothes, jewels, and gambling, ending in total bankruptcy of his family business and the sale of all his real property, business property and worldly goods. Even when he tries to commit suicide to end it all, he fails miserably and instead, he is arrested and must spend the rest of his days toiling in Debtor's Prison in a dark, dank cell filled with rats and urine-soaked straw, where in the pitch blackness, all he can remember are little vignettes of memories of his beautiful, kind, intelligent wife. Only in this contemplation can he finally put two and two together and realize how he has been played by the OW, how he has failed his wife utterly, and how he is an ugly worm fit for his final destiny in hell!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 19, 2023
Continuing on the Janet Louise Roberts torture tour, this was well done.
Sad, depressing, not remotely a romance, and ditching the concept of a HEA and you've got your next read. It's on Kindle Unlimited.
Moral of the story.
When life gives you lemons, made lemon water.
Sad, depressing, not remotely a romance, and ditching the concept of a HEA and you've got your next read. It's on Kindle Unlimited.
Moral of the story.
When life gives you lemons, made lemon water.
April 3, 2020
The book had a lot of potential. I really liked the prince. Actually he was the only character worth liking. Katie the h and that idiot Rupert were the worst characters i had the honor of reading. She was always crying and crying about going back to england and to rupert who didnt cared a whit about her. Rupert was the most dumbest character u can read about. Had it not been for the prince, i wouldnt even have read even half the book.
December 27, 2022
First of all, this is a romance novel written by a ww in the 70s that involves early 19th century China. There is gonna be some dated stuff. There’s some language, some description that feel off etc. however, I really felt that her goal here was humanizing and not othering and I gave her some slack. CW on that.
But wow what an interesting and unusual story, not just because of the setting but because of the actions of the heroine. She truly has *two* in depth and fully sexualized love stories. And I loved that for her. What a relief to see a woman who is treated like shite by her ‘beloved’ getting some from another hunk. And I felt like the way that love story developed was very relatable (she basically feels trapped, which she literally is), and so she can never truly accept the situation. The last part of the book, where she reunited with guy 1 was somewhat satisfying but also emotionally rushed. Still I bought the HEA. Interesting book.
But wow what an interesting and unusual story, not just because of the setting but because of the actions of the heroine. She truly has *two* in depth and fully sexualized love stories. And I loved that for her. What a relief to see a woman who is treated like shite by her ‘beloved’ getting some from another hunk. And I felt like the way that love story developed was very relatable (she basically feels trapped, which she literally is), and so she can never truly accept the situation. The last part of the book, where she reunited with guy 1 was somewhat satisfying but also emotionally rushed. Still I bought the HEA. Interesting book.
June 28, 2022
2.5 stars
Katie is a clerk working for Ruperts family when her father dies. Ruperts father arranges for her to marry Katie. They both travel to China for their fam business and she is left in China at the Chinese Prince’s home. They both have a child together. She then leaves back home with her husband after she finds him and leaves her son with the Chinese Prince to raise. She finally starts her family with Rupert.
Katie is a clerk working for Ruperts family when her father dies. Ruperts father arranges for her to marry Katie. They both travel to China for their fam business and she is left in China at the Chinese Prince’s home. They both have a child together. She then leaves back home with her husband after she finds him and leaves her son with the Chinese Prince to raise. She finally starts her family with Rupert.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 28, 2020
This was my first romance novel. I read this with my sister and cousin under the covers with a flashlight at the age of 10. Far from appropriate, I have never forgotten it.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews