"TRULY MOVING #160; #160;. . . BETTE BAO LORD IS AT HER STRONGEST." --The Boston Globe In 1932, as China shamefully kowtows under Japanese occupation, three unlikely companions are fatefully bound by their steadfast patriotism: Steel Hope, heir to a once-great aristocracy; Mountain Pine, his crippled, scholarly servant; and Firecrackers, a poor gravekeeper's daughter. In a youthful pact, they call themselves "Brothers of the Middle Heart," vowing to defend their country to the end. Yet as war and, later, the Communist Revolution ignite, cruel circumstances separate them. One becomes a political leader, one a writer, one an actress. But despite incessant historical upheaval, their lives continue to intertwine in poignant, often tragic, ways. Enmeshed in a love triangle, they will live to see their loyalty to one another tested again and again. Through these three richly drawn characters, Bette Bao Lord re-creates the stirring drama of twentieth-century China. In vivid, haunting prose she evokes the outrages that marred fifty years of the Chinese people's existence--and illuminates the remarkable resilience that defines them to this day. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

The grace, passion and fidelity to historical detail that characterized her bestselling novel, Spring Moon, and the stark evidence of the suffering of contemporary Chinese that rendered her nonfiction Legacies so compelling, are combined in Lord's new novel, which authoritatively illuminates the travails of 20th-century China. In 1932, three youngsters from different social strata vow to remain forever ``blood brothers of the Middle Heart.'' Steel Hope, scion of the noble but impoverished House of Li; Mountain Pine, his lame ``bookmate'' (study companion) and servant; and Firecracker, the daughter of a gravekeeper, are to endure and share lives of turmoil and pain, loyalty and love. When the three meet again in 1940, Steel Hope plans to marry Firecracker, now an opera star named Summer Wishes, but as an innocent pawn in a web of administrative corruption, he soon must fake his own death and vanish, surfacing later as a cadre in Mao's revolution. Scholarly Mountain Pine, who also adores Summer Wishes, eventually weds her; later, Mountain Pine will make a supreme sacrifice, ensuring that their son will think of Steel Hope as his father. The vicissitudes of Mao's reign bring them prosperity, then misery: one is sentenced to a labor camp, another to a political prison and the third to forced-labor. While the love triangle ensures the reader's emotional involvement, Lord also vividly portrays the historical and social context of seven decades. She conveys the breakdown of moral order under Chiang Kai-shek's corrupt Guomindang, recalls the idealism that made the intelligentsia ardent adherents of the Communist Party; and depicts the growing disillusionment, paranoia and sheer horror of the ensuing years under Mao. Despite their tragic experiences, the three friends and lovers live out their life spans; the sacrifice is their shared son, who lacks the nurturing memories that keep his elders alive. Though it culminates with the crackdown at Tiananmen Square, the novel ends on a note of affirmation, in keeping with Lord's humane vision of courageous people who are victims of history. 100,000 first printing. Copyright 1995 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Readers who enjoyed Lord's first novel, Spring Moon (LJ 10/15/81), will welcome this second novel. Not a sequel, but similiarly striking in its vivid portrayal of Chinese history, this work opens in 1932, when the Japanese have conquered Manchuria. Three children united in their antagonism for the Japanese begin their lifelong friendship. Two of them live in the same household: the young master, Steel Hope, and his servant, or "bookmate," Mountain Pine. Joining them is a creature called Firecrackers, a scrappy boy who can race like the wind, but before long it becomes clear that Firecrackers is not a boy at all. Later, Firecrackers becomes an actress named Summer Wishes, whose loving involvement with both Steel Hope and Mountain Pine adds a subtext of romance to what is essentially a historical novel. Steel Hope's years as a Communist party leader make for somewhat tedious reading, but otherwise the plot is strong. As the loyalty, love, and patriotism of the three friends are tested, the play of history on their loves is made clear. Much like Pearl S. Buck, Lord has the ability to reveal the soul of China through her characters. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/1/95.]-Keddy Ann Outlaw, Harris Cty. P.L., HoustonCopyright 1996 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

YA--Steel Hope, second son of the once-powerful House of Li; Mountain Pine, his crippled servant and `"bookmate"; and Firecrackers, a gravekeeper's daughter who disguises herself as a boy, form an unlikely friendship during the years of turmoil in China of the 1930s. Their paths diverge as China descends into chaos and war. Firecrackers becomes Summer Wishes, an opera singer who learns to hide her fears and perform with bombs falling close by; Steel Hope is an engineer and bureaucrat who joins the communist underground to fight the Japanese and puts loyalty to the revolution above all else; Mountain Pine becomes a writer and a hermit, but learns he can't run away from his feelings. War, revolution, the vagaries of Communist rule, and family loyalties test the friendship of the three, and their final reunion is bittersweet. Lord brings her knowledge of China and her gift of storytelling to this tale of friendship and love set against the backdrop of modern history. YAs will glimpse a different culture and enjoy a gripping story of the triumph of the human spirit.Molly Connally, Kings Park Library, Fairfax County, VA Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Lord's first novel of China, Spring Moon (1981), was a resounding success; her second is every bit as spellbinding even as it reflects the traumatic realities of modern China from the barbarities of the cultural revolution to the horrors of Tiananmen Square. The story begins in the early 1930s, when three young people forge an unlikely alliance that survives five decades of loss and love. There's Steel Hope, the second son of the head of the once noble and powerful Li family; Mountain Pine, his "bookmate" and retainer; and a destitute girl posing as a boy named Firecrackers. The novel's early sections sparkle with hope and joy as the three devoted friends romp and grow, but personal tragedy and war soon intrude. Lord is as adept at dramatizing cultural upheaval as she is at depicting affairs of the heart as she relates all the adventures, catastrophes, and bitter ironies that rule the lives of her protagonists. Firecrackers evolves into Summer Wishes, a beautiful actress with a heart-stealing voice, but she is forced to turn her art into propaganda. Mountain Pine would have been a poet in a gentler era but instead spends many years in a labor camp. In saner circumstances, Steel Hope would have been a minister of engineering by day and a bon vivant at night, but he gets swept up first in the wave of reform, then in the surge of violence and repression. The brutality of their times also wreaks havoc on their relationships, and they suffer within the perimeters of a painful love triangle. All in all, this is a powerfully affecting, can't-put-it-down read. (Reviewed December 15, 1995)0394534328Donna Seaman From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.