A sweeping novel set in war-torn 1928 China, with a star-crossed love story at its center. In a city full of thieves and communists, danger and death, spirited young lydia ivanova has lived a hard life. Always looking ov...A sweeping novel set in war-torn 1928 China, with a star-crossed love story at its center. In a city full of thieves and communists, danger and death, spirited young lydia ivanova has lived a hard life. Always looking over her shoulder, the sixteen-year-old must steal to feed herself and her mother, valentina, who numbered among the Russian elite until bolsheviks murdered most of them, including her husband.