A Change of Flag

China Coast Trilogy #3

by Christopher New

The last in the dynastic trilogy of the Dentons in China, that began in 1903, as chronicled in "The New York Times" bestseller, Shanghai. It is 1983. The second and third generations have settled in Hong Kong. Michael Denton, the family head, receives a message from his sister, a devout Communist. She has become disaffected with the political regime after the Cultural Revolution and wants his help to escape.

Genres: Historical Fiction

372 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Educated at Oxford and Princeton, I have taught philosophy in England and Hong Kong, where I was for some years Head of the Philosophy Department in Hong Kong University. Equally at home in East and West, I now divide my time between the two. My novels are set in China, India, Egypt and Europe.
I think too many western novelists are concerned only with their own small corner of the western world, as if that was the centre of everything. It isn't.

Reviews

[Ron Wroblewski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, the 3rd in the Trilogy isn't as good as the 1st Shanghai, but better than book 2. It had several of the characters from book 2 - the Dentons; and the next generation of book 1. It didn't cover the soon to come takeover of Hong Kong by the Chinese in 1997. It mention it several times but nothing in detail. Yet the title of the book is A Change of Flag. It didn't cover how Hong Kong was doing besides the evacuation of many of its citizens as they left the country.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final part of the China Coast Trilogy & it's another wonderful read for me. A more recent history of Hong Kong using the fictional Denton family as the vehicle for telling the story. I have loved this series & to my delight I found that the author, Christopher New, has written a fourth novel bringing the story up to date.

[Renae]

Character-driven

A montage of Hong Kong:
expats, academia, recitals, triads

Similar conversations uncertainty pre-1997 as in the 2019 protests


If you're in academia and don't like annoying people, it'll resonate.