The Mountain of Immoderate Desires

By Leslie Wilson

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0297813714
• ISBN13: 9780297813712
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd
• Length: 374 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.8" x 1.5" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Saucy, sexy and satisfying! A slice of Hong Kong life

The backcover starts thus: "Samuel Pink has a secret..." And indeed he has. He has several secrets, the most titilating of which is his belief that he is Queen Victoria's illegitimate son. In fact, Samuel has so many secrets, he doesn't even know who he is, or what he is. His own nature is a secret, in fact, a mystery to him. Lily, a Chinese from SooChow, a foundling turned mistress by the man who found her as a baby, does not have many secrets, in fact she has none. Her life is an open book, to be speculated and gossiped upon by the righteous white Christians who feel it is their duty to save her from her sins. All her life, and indeed FOR her to stay alive, she is dependant on the milk of human kindness, on the generosity of men and women, but mostly from the lust of men.The book tells of how these two young and dissimilar people meet, and live, and love, in a Victorian (1890's) Hong Kong that is long gone. But such is the skill of Leslie Wilson that the whole era comes alive when decribed in the rich hues and in such detail as intricate as Lily's embroidery. Sex, in thought and in deed, is an intricate part of the hypocritical expatriate Hong Kong community. Everyone either knows, or wants to know who's doing what and with whom. Everyone is already doing it or wants to do it. Or is trying to stop it. Lasvicious, suggestive and utterly delicious - you'll find it a satisfyingly brilliant book of many layers; at once a romance, thriller and most of all, a comment of humankind and its unkindness upon others.