Noble House: A Novel of Contemporary Hong Kong: A book review

I first encountered Noble House in December of 1986 or thereabouts. While it was not strictly an historical novel, I chose to see it as one. Noble House was set in 1963, before I was born--therefore, history to me--and nearly 50 years have passed since then.

The novel covers less than a fortnight in time but sprawls over more than 1,000 pages. Clavell brings a microscopic (no, nanoscopic) eye to Hong Kong, its people, and their Byzantine ways.

I regret Clavell died in 1994 because I had hoped he might have considered writing one more novel in his Asian Series. The books were not written in chronological order but can be read this way: Shogun (1600 AD), Tai-pan (1841 AD), Gai-jin(1862 AD), King Rat (1945), Noble House (1963), and Whirlwind (1979). The dates in () indicate when the action occurred. Whirlwind garnered for Clavell the largest pre-publication advance in publishing history up to that time but did not earn back as the publishers thought it would. It was my least favorite.

There could have been one more novel set during the 1997 transfer of Hong Kong from British suzerainty to the ministrations of the Red Chinese. It would have been interesting to see what might have happened to the Noble House and the tai-pan who appeared in Whirlwind. Too bad the Clavell estate has not been able to have the book written! Alas. We may never know how the former Crown Colony would have fared in the fictional pages of this interesting author.

Correction of the audio: Linc's last name is Bartlett, not Burnet.