A first-rate historical tale…
Crossland returns with this poignant historical about the temper and times of three ordinary men in the 1910s Shanghai. Three ordinary men, a disgraced Korean tribute courier, a bookish naval officer, and a polyglot third-class quartermaster, decide to come together to foil a Korean insurrection. But with China and Japan’s involvement, the stakes are simply too high. Crossland skillfully interweaves historical events and characters with fiction, providing an insightful, intimate look at a pivotal period in history. He infuses the deeply engrossing plot with the knowledge that lives become most vivid in small moments of connection, and reveals his ideas about love, morality, greed, and power play through his protagonists’ tangled life stories. The prose is rich with emotion, empathy, and human drama, and Yi and others are compelling in their basic goodness. This ambitious, insightful, and intricately rendered story of individual struggles and international power play makes for a wholly compelling read. Crossland is an author to watch.
The Abalone Ukulele
A Tale of Far Eastern Intrigue
By R L Crossland
Pub date June 29, 2021
ISBN 978-1735937878
Price $38.99 (USD) Hardcover, $24.36 Paperback, $13.83 Kindle edition
