The Silver Lotus

September 5, 2011
The oldest son of Nobel laureate John, former Vietnam photographer Steinbeck writes a sturdy historical with a heavy dose of romance for his second novel (after In the Shadow of the Cypress). In 1896 Capt. Jeremiah Macy Hammond, a descendant of Nantucket whalers, sails to China and falls in love with Lady “Silver Lotus” Yee, the “luminous” daughter of an affluent Cantonese grain merchant. Breaking with Chinese tradition, Lady Yee marries the “barbarian sea captain,” and they share rousing maritime adventures as trade merchants aboard one of Hammond’s schooners, The Silver Lotus. By 1900 they retire to a manor house in Monterey, Calif., where Lady Yee gives birth to a daughter, Macy. The low-profile but ambitious Lady Yee takes an avid interest in the welfare of oppressed Chinese laborers and bears another child, a son they call Silver. Tragedy finally catches up to the privileged family after a prolonged stay in China with Lady Yee’s family, threatening to destroy their fairy tale life. Though Steinbeck eschews direct dialogue and scene-setting in favor of straightforward exposition, plentiful historical details, vibrant descriptions, and a strong protagonist in the indomitable Lady Yee give his narrative great emotional depth.