Dirk Struan rose from humble beginnings to build Struan & Company, also known as the Noble House, into the worldβs largest Far East trading company. He is now the Tai-PanβSupreme Leaderβof all Tai-Pans in China. Along the way, however, he made a powerful enemy. Tyler Brock, Struanβs rival from their early opium-smuggling days, also heads a large trading fleet, second in size only to Struanβs. But it is not only silks and spices that drive their mutual companiesβ wealthβthe opium trade is still booming. War between England and China might be over, but the hostilities remain. Struan and Brock come to control much of Englandβs trade with China yet neither can control their desires or their hatred of each other. Over the years, their two families will cross paths, threatening to rip both apart, with reverberations that will echo across the generations.
Struan must fight to save his company and his family, or risk seeing everything he has created destroyed at the hands of his sworn enemy. Ambition, political intrigue, and love and lust weave their way throughout the novel the New York Times called, βgrand entertainment...packed with action...with blood and sin, treachery and conspiracy, sex and murder.β East and West come together in an opulent and intricately plotted narrative. A tour-de-force of historical fiction, rich in detail yet eminently readable, Tai-Pan will stay with you long after the final page.
James Clavell (1921β1994) was a novelist, screenwriter, director, and World War II veteran and prisoner of war. He is best known for his epic Asian Saga novels, which launched with the 1962 bestseller King Rat, and their televised adaptations. He also wrote screenplays for such films as The Great Escape and The Fly, and was a writer, director, and producer on To Sir, with Love. His books ShΕgun, Noble House, Tai-Pan, and Whirlwind were #1 New York Times bestsellers.