I know I've read this before, but I retain very few memories of it. About all I can say right now is that Norton must at one point have been to the port at Baltimore (and/or museums pertaining thereto), since it features in several of her books (usually as no more than a transit point).There's some evidence that there were meant to be I Ching hexagrams at the head of each chapter, but if so, they're not in this edition.For once, in a Norton book, nobody dies. That's cause for celebration in itself. It's not clear when this book is set. There are internal references to Godey's Ladies' Book, which places it not earlier than 1830. The heroine's step-greatniece's grandfather was one of the earliest Americans to trade (on a strictly limited basis) in China, and this would probably have been around 1800.I should note that the villain threatens several people with confinement in a mental institution. Since we tend to threaten people with things we fear ourselves, what might this mean she fears about herself? She threatens another character with a marriage by rape--what does that say about her own marital experience?One would like to hope that the young Damaris would follow her patron (and, likely, foster-kinsman by marriage), and free the slaves at Tiensin. One of the minor characters is threatened with being sold downriver, and fears to help the protagonists with that threat hanging over her--if she'd been free, she might have dared to be more help.
