Dynasty

DYNASTY---the compelling story of a powerful Eurasian Family divided by ambition, adultery, power, death and a country torn apart by ideology, revolution, intrigue, and bloodshed.

Sir Jonathan Sekloong, illegitimate son of a Chinese woman and an Irish soldier of fortune, was the cunning, ambitious founder of the Sekloong dynasty. He built a trade empire that spanned three generations in China from the 1900s to Mao's Cultural Revolution. The family's influence was felt from its base in Victorian Hong Kong to the Imperial Court of the last empress---and later through its descendants in both Nationalist and Red China.

Sir Jonathan's flamboyant and profligate eldest son Charles marries the protagonist of the story---the exquisite young Mary Osgood, daughter of an insignificant regimental band-master in Her Majesty's Army. While she marries for financial expediency and social status, Mary has problems reconciling the cultural differences within her marriage. This clash between husband and wife is later mirrored in the divergent paths taken by their sons. One becomes a Nationalist general and close friend of Chiang Kai-shek, another follows Mao on the Long March and becomes an important leader in Communist China, while a third becomes a distinguished Cardinal.

In this sweeping saga of China, Robert Elegant authentically recreates this turbulent era of Chinese history as we meet the powerful political figures of Sun Yat sen, Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Tse-tung, and Chou En-lai. The Twin Themes of how the Sekloong family unite their conflicting Occidental and Oriental heritages, and how the Chinese live and interact with an intrusive West that has repeatedly humiliated them---both on a political and personal level---dominate the public and private events of the book.