The two companies are engaged in a struggle to outsmart the other in order to gain favor with the inept and opium-addicted Governor-General William Longstaff. His company is in fierce competition with the second-best firm, Brock & Sons, led by his arch-rival, Tyler Brock. Dirk is the “Tai-Pan,” or leader of the Noble House, the richest trading company in Asia. The narrative follows the thrilling business adventures and political intrigue of a Scottish merchant, scrapper, opium smuggler and general charmer known as Dirk Straun. Set in 1841, the novel begins at an inflection point in the First Opium War between Great Britain and Imperial China, when the British had just secured the land that would become Hong Kong. Needless to say, Clavell produced yet another epic historical fiction adventure packed with exciting characters, harrowing themes, astonishing detail and a narrative you’ll contemplate long after you finish. After finishing “ Shōgun ,” I was eager to see how well author James Clavell would keep the momentum in “Tai-Pan” (1966), the second novel in his “Asian Saga” series.
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