Empress Orchid: Summary and book reviews of Empress Orchid by Anchee Min, plus links to an excerpt from Empress Orchid and a biography of Anchee Min.

From a master of the historical novel, Empress Orchid sweeps readers into the heart of the Forbidden City to tell the fascinating story of a young concubine who becomes China's last empress. Min introduces the beautiful Tzu Hsi, known as Orchid, and weaves an epic of a country girl who seized power through seduction, murder, and endless intrigue. When China is threatened by enemies, she alone seems capable of holding the country together. In this "absorbing companion piece to her novel Becoming Madame Mao" (New York Times), readers and reading groups will once again be transported by Min's lavish evocation of the Forbidden City in its last days of imperial glory and by her brilliant portrait of a flawed yet utterly compelling woman who survived, and ultimately dominated, a male world.

Media Reviews

San Francisco Chronicle - Irene Wanner Min's efforts to do justice to both imaginative fiction and accurate history become strained. A huge cast of characters races through these pages, and keeping track of who's who, much less whose side they're on, grows difficult.   St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Repps Hudson Min was aided greatly by her ability to read Chinese documents and to obtain records that outlined the basics of 19th-century court life. Writing in her second language of English, Min handles the development of this novel very smoothly and with dialogue that usually seems apt for court life.   Kirkus Reviews Evocative, but underpowered in simple narrative.   Publishers Weekly At times her writing is textbook-flat, and she sometimes loses track of her teeming cast of characters. But readers will be enthralled by the gorgeously woven cultural tapestry and the psychologically astute portrait of the empress - a talented girl from the provinces who married (way) up.   Library Journal - Edward Cone This imaginative work should be welcome in all public libraries with a taste for history and the exotic.   Booklist - Donna Seaman In her second powerful and brilliantly conceived fictionalized portrait of a strong and controversial woman intrinsic to Chinese culture, Min continues to fulfill her mission to tell the truth about her homeland, particularly China's long tradition of demonizing women.   The Guardian - Julia Lovell Min keeps the melodrama under control with plenty of mind-improving history, while spicing up the stolid period detail with a few touches of romantic historical schlock: the evil, moneygrubbing uncle intent on marrying his beautiful niece off to his idiot opium-addict son, the will-they-won't-they sexual tension between Cixi and her bodyguard, Yung Lu.

Recent Reader Reviews

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Books with similar themes

• Historical Fiction
  
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• China 
  
• 19th Century 
  
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