Mandarin (Havan novel)
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Mandarin, subtitled A Novel of Viet Nam, is a novel by John Havan. The protagonist, Bach, is the first-born son of the most powerful mandarin at the Nguyễn dynasty court in Hue.[1]
At the time of Bach's birth, Vietnam's historical feudal system is locked in a struggle with
Japanese imperialism, and Ho Chi Minh's communist fanatics. Bach grows up to be a robust and handsome young man, irresistible to the women in his life, brilliant at his studies and with a natural gift for the martial arts, but his way of life is doomed in the cataclysmic birth throes of the modern Vietnamese socialist state
. The book is an epic tale of love and war, struggle, loss, and rebirth.
A sequel, The Tiger General, chronicles the life of Bach's son, Hai.[2]
References
- ISBN 978-974-524-100-8. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
- ISBN 978-974-524-135-0. Retrieved 2022-03-15.