The China Bride

The China Bride is like an Oriental carpet, luxurious and rich with detail. A romantic adventure, the author, Mary Jo Putney, transcends the average tale with her well drawn characters, exotic historic locales and fluid writing style. The story opens with Troth Montgomery, a Scottish-Chinese woman, who has been living between two cultures in 19th century China. She arrives at the English home of Dominic Renbourne to announce she is his brother's widow. Through flashback we learn how Kyle Renbourne, Viscount Maxwell, an English lord trying to escape sorrows by travelling abroad meets Troth, an English translator in China. Between them, they find understanding and passion while exploring, both figuratively and literally, forbidden ground. Misadventure occurs and Kyle, sentenced to death, marries Troth then sends her back to his ancestral home so she can discover the European side of herself. When Kyle miraculously reappears, the couple must resolve their own identities before they can accept love. Psychologically convincing, abundant with historical background and warmed with more than a little sensuality, this is a superb read from one of the best writers of romance. Although it is a sequel to the excellent Wild Child and a pre-quel to also excellent The Bartered Bride, it stands on its own. Ms. Putney's website reports that movie rights have been optioned for this book. If you read it, you will see why someone would want to film this wonderfully exhilarating story.

At the end of The Wild Child, Kyle, Viscount Maxwell, left his family home to go travelling and see the world. Seven years later, he is in China, working as a trader in the then Chinese system in which Western traders were kept in a compound in Canton, spied on by the translators provided to them by their hosts. The translator supplied to Kyle is a young man called Jin Kang, to whom Kyle feels strangely drawn. This is explained some days later when Kyle discovers that Jin Kang is really Troth Mei-Lian Montgomery, daughter of a Scottish trader and Chinese concubine, now both dead. Troth had been taken in by the Chinese overseer of the trading system, Chenqua, who took advantage of her fluency in both languages by making her work for him in disguise.Kyle, frustrated by the restraints on Europeans, wants to explore more of China, and Troth offers to be his guide on condition that he help her get to Scotland. She agrees, and in disguise they make their way to the Temple of Hashon, becoming lovers en route. Kyle, though, makes it clear that he isn't capable of loving; Troth lies and says that she's not looking for love.On the return journey, disaster strikes: Kyle's disguise is uncovered and he is arrested and sentenced to death. Troth creeps into his cell on the pretence of administering English deathbed rites, and Kyle offers to marry her, Scottish-style, to protect her and give her a means of getting back to England.Believing that the death sentence was carried out - she heard the sound of the firing squad - Troth makes her way to England, arriving at Warfield to tell Dominic that his brother is dead. Mere weeks later, a frail but alive Kyle turns up; his captors had only played with him, pretending on several occasions to execute him. So he and Troth are bound in a marriage of dubious legitimacy, and which neither believes the other wants.Where do they go from here?This is another Putney book I'd put off reading for some time; the Chinese element was offputting to me, since I don't care for Asian/Oriental settings and didn't like the latter two Silk books much for that reason. However, less than half of this book is actually set in China, and although Putney does her usual job of making the detail authentic (hence lots of stuff about feng shui and tai chi and chi energy and so on, most of which I skimmed rather than read), her usual skill at building a romance flows through the book. The scenes leading up to Kyle and Troth's parting and Kyle's 'death', as well as the depiction of Kyle in captivity and the mock executions, were poignant and emotional - Putney at her best. And I don't agree with those who argue that the latter part of the book is less interesting: the emotional divide and miscommunication between Kyle and Troth is also Putney at her best. Enthralling!

Troth Mei-Lian Montgomery as a mixed blood of Scots and Chinese, finds herself disillusioned and trapped by the parochial shades and customs in Canton where women are submissive and subjugated. She lives a life as a spy for her benefactor Chenqua, a powerful Chinese merchant who raised her after the demise of her parents and is adept at martial arts wing chun to be convincing as a male undercover. Least did she expect destiny opens a door for her when Kyle Maxwell - an adventurer and a wealthy viscount arrives and sweeps her away in a torrent of unfulfilled dreams and passion. She is promised a gateway to Scotland to trace her roots if she brings Kyle to Temple of Hoshan - the final destination of his voyage to see the world. Woven with intricacy, The CHINA BRIDE by Mary Jo Putney is a refreshing read with its scope on an exotic Asian culture as well as an interracial romance. The meticulous details and descriptions of Canton, Chinese traditions and ideals are written with extreme accuracy; no less sublime is her sensitivity towards Troth as the protagonist - who struggles to live her freedom and such is the triumph you will feel when she reaches Scotland to find her true destiny. There is a stage for grand romance and intrigue - Kyle is captured and almost gullotined after their trip to Hoshan goes haywired. As a Fanqui or a foreigner, he is watched and rigidly supervised by Chenqua and little did he expect that his objections on Opium trading could lead to assasinations on him.... On the emotional and romance side, Kyle and Troth are both tortured souls with wrenching emotions. Kyle believes his capacity for love is dead with the passing of his former lover; Troth faces her tough ordeal as a foreigner in Scotland with tongues wagging and discrimination rampaging - she considers herself restricted under the society's mold again.THE CHINA BRIDE is exquisite for Ms. Putney's skilled observations on historical facts of China and her thoughtfulness in characterization - and Troth makes an irresistible heroine whose courage and straightforwardness crashes against the stereotypical domestic appeal of Chinese women. It is a riveting read with its Oriental escapade - and is high on adventures and thrills. Poignant and engaging, The CHINA BRIDE shines as a luminous pearl in the genre of historical romance.

Although basically a formulaic romance novel (hero gets heroine somehow through trials, tribulations and miscommunications), The China Bride is so much richer due to the well-developed and interesting characters and thoroughly researched settings. The story begins with Troth Montgomery, half Chinese, half-Scottish bride of Kyle Maxwell, arriving in England to inform his family that he was shot and killed in a prison in China. The story alternates between present and past, with the present being late 1832 in England and the past being earlier the same year in China. Kyle was completing his world travels in China, and was entranced by a young male translator who turned out to be a female (Troth) in disguise. She was used as a Chinese/English translator and spy on the visiting merchants, and was frustrated by her double-life. In exchange for financing her passage to England, he convinced her to lead him into the inner country where foreigners were forbidden. He was captured and taken to a prison. When he found that he would be shot to death, he impulsively agreed to marry her in a private Scottish ceremony in order to ensure her safe passage to England.Troth returns to England and was accepted by his family, but never felt that she fit into their society. Since the book is only half over at this point, we realize that something else must happen in order for Troth to find happiness. Shockingly, Kyle returns to England and reports that he was severely tortured in prison, but not executed. Troth feels that she must release him from his commitment to marry her, since she believed he only did it out of kindness and not out of love. Thus begins the miscommunication and confusion that plagues the couple until the eventual happy ending. The story is told on two continents and the settings are beautifully described with enriching cultural details. The inevitable love scenes are steamy but not tawdry, and both of the characters are so deserving of happiness that you really want this to have a happy ending, which, of course, it does.

Mary Jo Putney reigns supreme as the Queen of Romance! The China Bride contains all the elements that have made Putney soooooo popular. Troth is a beautiful, strong, proud heroine and Kyle is an amazingly sensitive, handsome hero, who just needs to be shown the true path to love. Troth is half Scottish, half Chinese and therefore a non-person in Chinese society. But the ways of China are dear to her because of her Chinese mother and the fact that she's grown up there. She also loved her big, brawny red-headed Scottish father, Hugh Montgomery, so her dream is to travel to Scotland and meet her other relatives. She has no idea if they will accept her or not. Kyle Renbourne is the twin brother of Domenic, who was the hero in Putney's recent novel The Wild Child. In fact, Domenic and Meriel are seen again in this book but it's really Troth and Kyle's story. The China Bride is a fabulous adventure with heartstopping suspense, tears (mine!) and the anguish of separation and rejection as well as a satisfying, book-hugging ending that Putney is famous for. Bravo! Mary Jo - you are the undisputed Queen of Romance Novels!