creative license on a real person. A little unbelivable. ( )

Mary Penney, an actress, is taken in by her sister, Jane after she is abandoned by her married aristocrat lover. She stays with her sister's family, giving birth to a son, but the only chance for her family to cast off the stain she has placed on them is her banishment. She is sent to India, but the ship flounders and she is one of the only survivors. Jane and her husband, Robert, plan for her removal again, but it doesn't go to plan so she ends up travelling with her brother-in-law, a botanist with a mission. His assignment is to sneak the closely guarded tea plant from Chinese soil. As foreigners are forbidden to travel in China, and the removal of tea a capital offence, the two must travel in disguise, as Chinese.

Mary Penney and her sister, Jane Fortune, could not be more different. Mary is an actress, expressive and impulsive, whereas her sister's plan was to marry up, to become a lady. Mary initially clashes with her straight up and down brother-in-law, who seems to have more time for plants than people. Mary is a strong woman, she misses her son, but reconciles herself with the fact that she can't stay with him. She also adapts more quickly to Chinese life, to the language, and her observance of people helps get Robert and herself out of many a sticky situation.

I enjoyed this, it wasn't a ground breaking romance, but the back story and setting made it worth a read. China was a country closed off to foreigners, except for the ports, and tea, a necessary staple for us Brits, was a product that the Emperor wants kept secret. Robert and Mary set off on a ground breaking trip, with two warring servants to help them. The detail that Sheridan provides show the clash of two very different cultures and the tense situation at the time.

A good summer read. ( )