fern house press limited

In a society caught between tradition and modernity, poverty and opportunity, puppets and revolutionaries, a family struggles to navigate a nation in flux.

China is rising from the ashes of its imperial past, but foreign powers and civil war threaten to tear it apart. Wu Wan-fu’s family comes from humble origins, but with his talent for English and a nose for business he can see the route to wealth and influence as an agent in a job with a Western company.

It’s not long before success and desire come crashing against the ancestral values that underpin his identity. Caught in a labyrinth of shifting loyalties and underworld intrigue, he strives to reconcile the demands of love and family. Viewed through the lens of the women who shaped his story, The Four Wives of Comprador Wu captures a world in transition which continues to resonate today.

Irene Pih Andreae’s debut novel strips bare the soul of China against the backdrop of the country’s most turbulent era, through invasion, rebellion and war to its birth as a Communist power. With lucid style, authentic voices and real figures from history, her sweeping saga explores pride and humiliation, love and betrayal, and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of forces beyond our control.