DRAGON LADY

A slave finds freedom in a life of piracy in this novel set in 19th-century China.

At the tender age of 13, Xianggu is sold into slavery by her father, an unfeeling man saddled with debts. She becomes the property of Madam Xu, a shrewd woman who runs a floating brothel in Guangzhou. Xianggu works as a “flower girl” for 10 long years, both a slave and a prostitute, her virginity sacrificed to a paying customer. All the while, she pines for some measure of independence and dreams of emulating Madam Xu and becoming an entrepreneur as well: “I saw my customers as a way to climb up, not fall under.” But those dreams come to a crashing end when the “flower boat” is commandeered by the Red Flag fleet, a notorious band of pirates. Xianggu cleverly bargains for her life and eventually becomes the mistress and then wife of Zheng Yi, the squad boss who commands the largest squadron in the fleet. She learns the violent art of “sea banditry” and rises within the ranks of a deadly crew of remorseless criminals, an opportunity to effect her own emancipation: “Prostitution required the violation of my body. Piracy required my soul. The first enslaved me. The second set me free.” Bardot thrillingly details Xianggu’s ascendancy from abject poverty to a position of respected leadership among the hardest of men. A memorable character, Xianggu poignantly exemplifies a broader “story about how to survive in a cruel world, how to claw one’s way to the top, how one must do horrible things to live another day.” The author delivers a tale that is historically authentic, rigorously researched, and a moving portrayal of a remarkable but morally compromised life.

A gripping pirate story as historically astute as it is dramatically captivating.