What do you think?
Rate this book
Peking Picnic
Peking in the 1930s - an ancient city of warlords, bordered by brutal civil war, and a place of exquisite beauty. Laura Leroy, whose marriage to a diplomat has taken her far from home, lives divided between England and the social farce of diplomatic life in Peking.
When a group of expats venture out on an expedition to the great monastery at Chieh T'ai Ssu they find themselves intoxicated by the extraordinary flowering beauty of Chinese landscape in spring. Laura is drawn to Vinstead, a man who reminds her of the green fields and spires she has left behind in Oxford. But far from the pleasures of cocktails and picnic parties, they encounter a shocking clash that threatens the security of their fragile society.
Peking Picnic is an enthralling novel, and Ann Bridge evokes the uneasy balance of living between two worlds, between east and west, and between old China and the coming of the new.
When a group of expats venture out on an expedition to the great monastery at Chieh T'ai Ssu they find themselves intoxicated by the extraordinary flowering beauty of Chinese landscape in spring. Laura is drawn to Vinstead, a man who reminds her of the green fields and spires she has left behind in Oxford. But far from the pleasures of cocktails and picnic parties, they encounter a shocking clash that threatens the security of their fragile society.
Peking Picnic is an enthralling novel, and Ann Bridge evokes the uneasy balance of living between two worlds, between east and west, and between old China and the coming of the new.
316 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1932
12 people are currently reading
337 people want to read
About the author
Ann Bridge
66 books25 followersMid twentieth-century novelist [real name, Mary Anne O'Malley] who began by exploiting the milieu of the British Foreign Office community in Peking, China, where she lived for two years with her diplomat husband. Her novels combine courtship plots with vividly-realised settings and demure social satire.
She went on to write novels which take as the background of their protagonists' emotional lives a serious investigation of modern historical developments (such as the leap by which Turkey progressed from a feudal-style government to become a modern republic in which women enjoyed equality of rights and equality of opportunity).
Ann Bridge also wrote thrillers centred on a female amateur detective, travel books, and family memoirs.
She went on to write novels which take as the background of their protagonists' emotional lives a serious investigation of modern historical developments (such as the leap by which Turkey progressed from a feudal-style government to become a modern republic in which women enjoyed equality of rights and equality of opportunity).
Ann Bridge also wrote thrillers centred on a female amateur detective, travel books, and family memoirs.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
May 19, 2023
Set in colonial China, in the British Legation in Peking. Laura Leroy is the wife of an Attache, She is torn between two worlds, missing England and her children when in Peking, but not quite feeling she fits in there after life in China. She is well regarded and her friends often turn to her for advice. Despite unrest in the countryside, a group of her friends arrange a 'picnic' (actually, a few days camping), at a Temple in the hills. The novel is far more taken up with the relationships forming, (or not), within the group, and they all seem to be coming to Laura for advice. She has a wise head on her shoulders, but she herself is not immune to romantic feelings.
A rather bittersweet story with beautiful writing. This was a book to savour. This was my first by Ann Bridge, but it certainly won't be my last.
A rather bittersweet story with beautiful writing. This was a book to savour. This was my first by Ann Bridge, but it certainly won't be my last.
January 9, 2021
Maybe 3.5. I enjoyed this one for the most part – it's a little dated of course but it's an atmospheric, intriguing and thought-provoking read.
October 31, 2021
Somewhere between 3-3.5
An overall enjoyable novel shedding light on the expat experience of 1930s Beijing. My favourite parts were the descriptions of the city and surrounding countryside and the characters’ interaction with the local people, although I must admit the latter did not feature as heavily as I might've liked.
Laura Leroy is a highly likeable protagonist: married to a largely absent British diplomat, she has learned Mandarin and seamlessly traverses both cultures after having lived in China for a number of years. This is not to say that she doesn't experience homesickness for rural Oxfordshire and her two small children, but I liked reading a novel written so long ago which had such a fearless female lead (in a non—corny way) who was living with some semblance of independence (we only briefly meet her husband and he seems very distant) so far from home.
Now I want to visit 戒台寺 - Jie Tai Temple or Chieh T'ai Ssu in Wade-Giles - and see the blossom and breathtaking views for myself, although hopefully with less army deserters...
(side note: I had an exhausting time trying to translate Wade-Giles to pinyin and then to the actual characters to try and follow along and Google locations and people mentioned in the book as I read along!)
An overall enjoyable novel shedding light on the expat experience of 1930s Beijing. My favourite parts were the descriptions of the city and surrounding countryside and the characters’ interaction with the local people, although I must admit the latter did not feature as heavily as I might've liked.
Laura Leroy is a highly likeable protagonist: married to a largely absent British diplomat, she has learned Mandarin and seamlessly traverses both cultures after having lived in China for a number of years. This is not to say that she doesn't experience homesickness for rural Oxfordshire and her two small children, but I liked reading a novel written so long ago which had such a fearless female lead (in a non—corny way) who was living with some semblance of independence (we only briefly meet her husband and he seems very distant) so far from home.
Now I want to visit 戒台寺 - Jie Tai Temple or Chieh T'ai Ssu in Wade-Giles - and see the blossom and breathtaking views for myself, although hopefully with less army deserters...
(side note: I had an exhausting time trying to translate Wade-Giles to pinyin and then to the actual characters to try and follow along and Google locations and people mentioned in the book as I read along!)
February 3, 2013
I have recently enthused about my love of Virago books, especially when they come in an original shade of dark green – such is the collector’s obsession. Therefore it seemed fitting that the first book I read after the month of re-reading –when I could select from my teetering TBR – should be a Virago. This particular book was sent to me by Dee from the Libraything Virago group, as part of my lovely secret Santa Parcel. I have been so looking forward to reading it, and I haven’t at all been disappointed. Peking Picnic is a wonderful novel. Thank you Dee.
I have been reading this novel rather slowly – certainly the first half of it I did – due to having slept rather badly a couple of times last week – very out of character – which left me very tired. I found myself having to read whole paragraphs and pages over and over – as my poor tired brain found working out who was who a bit tricky at first. Strangely however I was glad that I had to read it slowly because the writing is so beautiful, just as with Illyrian Spring which I read last year – there is a wonderful sense of place which Ann Bridge has created.
“sitting back in her chair under an oleander, for a moment alone, what she saw with great clearness was a green field bordered with youthful Scots pines, on which a small white figures ran about with happy cries. She heard the sound of wood on leather and leather on wood, and treble voices crying “how’s that?” and hurrahing eagerly if thinly.”
As conflict threatens between local warlords, Laura Leroy - an ambassadorial wife at the very heart of the British Legation at Peking, quietly misses her children and dreams of Oxford. Mrs Leroy is very much admired and respected in this diplomatic community. A host of interesting and diverse characters surround Laura Leroy as the novel opens; including Major La Touche – called Touchy by everyone, Laura’s friend Nina Nevile, Nina’s niece Little Annette, and Laura’s own nieces Lilah and Judith, Miss Hande an American novelist and various diplomatic staff such as Derek Fitzmaurice. Into this group comes Professor Vinstead a Cambridge academic of psychology, for who the idea of a Peking Picnic as a kind of welcome is conceived. This picnic is not the Sunday afternoon outing that we may think of when we see the word, but more of a camping expedition taking a couple of days, to see the great temple of Chieh T’ai Ssu .
As the trip gets underway friendships and romances blossom, Laura is called upon to offer advice and quiet good sense to the fledgling lovers, while, surprisingly finding herself not entirely unmoved by the lonely Professor. Things take an unexpected and dramatic turn however when the party are taken hostage by a group of dishevelled bandits.
This is exactly the kind of novel I love. A quiet intelligent novel, peopled with memorable and interesting characters. I have already said that the writing is beautiful – and it is – and good writing cannot be beaten. However there were even some moments which are also very funny. When Hubbard – Laura’s odd little maid suddenly appears in the middle of the captors – declaring she hadn’t been captured but had walked in –bearing dozens of cheap cigarettes for Laura and her friends – it is a delight.
Throughout the novel Ann Bridge uses repeated lines to poetry quoted and thought about by Laura and Vinstead particularly– such as: “come you not, a careless stranger, Him with reckless words to waken” which somehow bring a touching poignancy to the scene described.
This wonderful novel really will live in my mind for a while.
I have been reading this novel rather slowly – certainly the first half of it I did – due to having slept rather badly a couple of times last week – very out of character – which left me very tired. I found myself having to read whole paragraphs and pages over and over – as my poor tired brain found working out who was who a bit tricky at first. Strangely however I was glad that I had to read it slowly because the writing is so beautiful, just as with Illyrian Spring which I read last year – there is a wonderful sense of place which Ann Bridge has created.
“sitting back in her chair under an oleander, for a moment alone, what she saw with great clearness was a green field bordered with youthful Scots pines, on which a small white figures ran about with happy cries. She heard the sound of wood on leather and leather on wood, and treble voices crying “how’s that?” and hurrahing eagerly if thinly.”
As conflict threatens between local warlords, Laura Leroy - an ambassadorial wife at the very heart of the British Legation at Peking, quietly misses her children and dreams of Oxford. Mrs Leroy is very much admired and respected in this diplomatic community. A host of interesting and diverse characters surround Laura Leroy as the novel opens; including Major La Touche – called Touchy by everyone, Laura’s friend Nina Nevile, Nina’s niece Little Annette, and Laura’s own nieces Lilah and Judith, Miss Hande an American novelist and various diplomatic staff such as Derek Fitzmaurice. Into this group comes Professor Vinstead a Cambridge academic of psychology, for who the idea of a Peking Picnic as a kind of welcome is conceived. This picnic is not the Sunday afternoon outing that we may think of when we see the word, but more of a camping expedition taking a couple of days, to see the great temple of Chieh T’ai Ssu .
As the trip gets underway friendships and romances blossom, Laura is called upon to offer advice and quiet good sense to the fledgling lovers, while, surprisingly finding herself not entirely unmoved by the lonely Professor. Things take an unexpected and dramatic turn however when the party are taken hostage by a group of dishevelled bandits.
This is exactly the kind of novel I love. A quiet intelligent novel, peopled with memorable and interesting characters. I have already said that the writing is beautiful – and it is – and good writing cannot be beaten. However there were even some moments which are also very funny. When Hubbard – Laura’s odd little maid suddenly appears in the middle of the captors – declaring she hadn’t been captured but had walked in –bearing dozens of cheap cigarettes for Laura and her friends – it is a delight.
Throughout the novel Ann Bridge uses repeated lines to poetry quoted and thought about by Laura and Vinstead particularly– such as: “come you not, a careless stranger, Him with reckless words to waken” which somehow bring a touching poignancy to the scene described.
This wonderful novel really will live in my mind for a while.
January 7, 2013
A period piece but a thoroughly enjoyable one. Laura Leroy is the wife of a British diplomat in Peking in the 1920's. When a party of British friends departs on a three-day jaunt to a temple in the nearby hills, Laura and the rest - including the intriguing and attractive Professor Vinstead - encounter both breathtaking beauty and great danger. Splendid as character studies, but also growing in suspense throughout the story, this was an unexpectedly entertaining and impressive book.
April 15, 2013
Think Jane Austin writing a travel novel during the time of Downton Abbey...
Want to read
May 5, 2021*********************
*Enchanter's Nightshade TBR
*The Dark Moment TBR
*A Place To Stand: A Novel TBR
*Illyrian Spring TBR
*Peking Picnic TBR
*Enchanter's Nightshade TBR
*The Dark Moment TBR
*A Place To Stand: A Novel TBR
*Illyrian Spring TBR
*Peking Picnic TBR
July 19, 2015
I picked this book up in a shop not realising it had been written in 1932, so the old writing style took a chapter or two to get used to, having only read contemporary books for the last year or so. However, it was a thoroughly enjoyable read.
The story revolves around a group of expats in 1930s colonial China who decide to go on an expedition up in the hills to a Chinese monastery. Whilst on this expedition they witness the turbulent political nature of China at this time which threatens to put them in danger.
I found the book to be relatively slow-paced, with any action or suspense occurring in the last quarter of the book. However, the imagery described by the author throughout the book is where the beauty of the book lies. The author manages to amazingly transport the reader to the surroundings she is describing.If you are looking for a book which vividly illuminates the scenery of colonial China then I highly recommend Peking Picnic.
The story revolves around a group of expats in 1930s colonial China who decide to go on an expedition up in the hills to a Chinese monastery. Whilst on this expedition they witness the turbulent political nature of China at this time which threatens to put them in danger.
I found the book to be relatively slow-paced, with any action or suspense occurring in the last quarter of the book. However, the imagery described by the author throughout the book is where the beauty of the book lies. The author manages to amazingly transport the reader to the surroundings she is describing.If you are looking for a book which vividly illuminates the scenery of colonial China then I highly recommend Peking Picnic.
April 19, 2016
The post shows up four or five times a day, envelopes served on platters by noiseless houseboys. Grand motorcars glide along quiet streets. Just round the corner from the Forbidden City, the noise and dust settles, and it's rubbers of bridge in the British Legation, clinking cocktail shakers and roundabout references to the murderous t'ai-pings just outside the city gates.
Ms Bridge gives us the full Empire On Parade, complete with a jolly little outing that will take our ensemble cast up-country for what's called a picnic. In the event it involves hampers of appetizers and liquor, carried on ahead by mules, with camp-beds and linens, whilst the main party struggles forward riding in estate cars and aboard ferries. It's the familiar gathering of military and embassy, love-crossed youth and wiser elders, the odd American authoress and Cambridge don, you know the drill. Their destination is the rambling and otherworldly Chinese Temple city situated against rolling Asian hills. Where half the way into a pretty standard, cocktail-drenched weekend of dalliances and sunset strolls, the t'ai pings attack.
If this begins to sound a little familiar, it certainly is. Basically we have A Passage To India in 3os China, which merges and morphs with bits of Wings Of The Dove and Up At The Villa, depending on where you look in. But it doesn't feel formula or boilerplate; there is a certain leeway in using the colonial setting, in that the British Empire covered the whole known world at certain points, and every kind of narrative can be stitched into the scenery.
Bridge creates a fascinating heroine here in her older-woman head of household Laura Leroy, who centers the story and gently draws out the other characters as she goes. (Oh and by the way, it's about 37 years that gets you the 'older woman' niche in this 3os drama.) Self-disparaging but nervy and empowering, as the only Chinese-speaker and quickest on-the-draw, Laura is the spine of the novel, and suffers no fucking around once the going gets dodgy.
Nothing is too surprising if you've been on this sort of picnic before, but Bridge has done a nice little bait-and-switch. By giving us a novel of character dressed in period-travel clothing, an insightful outing where a lesser author would have gone strictly for the t'ai-ping-at-the-gate theatrics... we're in Forster or Maugham territory, which is intricate and nuanced.
Ms Bridge gives us the full Empire On Parade, complete with a jolly little outing that will take our ensemble cast up-country for what's called a picnic. In the event it involves hampers of appetizers and liquor, carried on ahead by mules, with camp-beds and linens, whilst the main party struggles forward riding in estate cars and aboard ferries. It's the familiar gathering of military and embassy, love-crossed youth and wiser elders, the odd American authoress and Cambridge don, you know the drill. Their destination is the rambling and otherworldly Chinese Temple city situated against rolling Asian hills. Where half the way into a pretty standard, cocktail-drenched weekend of dalliances and sunset strolls, the t'ai pings attack.
If this begins to sound a little familiar, it certainly is. Basically we have A Passage To India in 3os China, which merges and morphs with bits of Wings Of The Dove and Up At The Villa, depending on where you look in. But it doesn't feel formula or boilerplate; there is a certain leeway in using the colonial setting, in that the British Empire covered the whole known world at certain points, and every kind of narrative can be stitched into the scenery.
Bridge creates a fascinating heroine here in her older-woman head of household Laura Leroy, who centers the story and gently draws out the other characters as she goes. (Oh and by the way, it's about 37 years that gets you the 'older woman' niche in this 3os drama.) Self-disparaging but nervy and empowering, as the only Chinese-speaker and quickest on-the-draw, Laura is the spine of the novel, and suffers no fucking around once the going gets dodgy.
Nothing is too surprising if you've been on this sort of picnic before, but Bridge has done a nice little bait-and-switch. By giving us a novel of character dressed in period-travel clothing, an insightful outing where a lesser author would have gone strictly for the t'ai-ping-at-the-gate theatrics... we're in Forster or Maugham territory, which is intricate and nuanced.
October 31, 2015
I loved reading this book.
The plot is relatively straightforward, centred round a rather unwise excursion into the hills around Peking during a time of political instability and 'warlordism'. But the novel is not so much about the events as about the development of the cast of characters, involving a number of different kinds of awakenings.
In this sense the book stands in the tradition of novels from EM Forster to Carol Shields. It's about love, loyalty, sex, choices and social interaction. The lead character, Laura Leroy, is a somewhat self-contained but unconventional and strong woman, who plays a pivotal role in the awakenings of several of the other characters. She's a very well-written character, a 'modern' person in 1930s terms yet one who anchors many aspects of a conventional society.
I found the portrayal of foreigners in 1930s China authentic. You won't find here the irritating and conventional tropes of post-colonial literature, but people portrayed as real people.
More censorious modern readers might find some of the social mores a little disturbing, e.g. in attitudes to servants, but surely no more than in Downton Abbey. The characterisations of racial psychology (mainly in terms of French and English differences, rather than western versus Chinese) in some of the dialogue might also jar - but this *is* how people spoke at the time. Check out some DH Lawrence to find other contemporary examples.
It's an authentic novel, with great characters, emotional connection and also some great passages of description. But what appeals to me most is the evident humanity and insight in the author's writing.
The plot is relatively straightforward, centred round a rather unwise excursion into the hills around Peking during a time of political instability and 'warlordism'. But the novel is not so much about the events as about the development of the cast of characters, involving a number of different kinds of awakenings.
In this sense the book stands in the tradition of novels from EM Forster to Carol Shields. It's about love, loyalty, sex, choices and social interaction. The lead character, Laura Leroy, is a somewhat self-contained but unconventional and strong woman, who plays a pivotal role in the awakenings of several of the other characters. She's a very well-written character, a 'modern' person in 1930s terms yet one who anchors many aspects of a conventional society.
I found the portrayal of foreigners in 1930s China authentic. You won't find here the irritating and conventional tropes of post-colonial literature, but people portrayed as real people.
More censorious modern readers might find some of the social mores a little disturbing, e.g. in attitudes to servants, but surely no more than in Downton Abbey. The characterisations of racial psychology (mainly in terms of French and English differences, rather than western versus Chinese) in some of the dialogue might also jar - but this *is* how people spoke at the time. Check out some DH Lawrence to find other contemporary examples.
It's an authentic novel, with great characters, emotional connection and also some great passages of description. But what appeals to me most is the evident humanity and insight in the author's writing.
February 15, 2016
Once I managed to get going with this novel , I really enjoyed it. Ann Bridge set the scene, describing the city and countryside, the people and their colonial status..... And the wonderful relationships that evolve during the picnic. Whilst illicit love isn't condoned it is presented in a way that makes the reader understand and wish Laura and the professor well. I especially enjoyed the relationships with her staff and their devotion to her. She is a strong woman surviving in her husbands world but making her own life within it. Her sadness at being separated from her children was intense and hard to comprehend in this day and age.
January 1, 2011
Excellent book, captures the feel of the British colonial era in China in the early 20th century. Similar in style to books that deal with the british raj in India. China is not an area where lots of books were written covering this period. Interesting and well written. If you like CS Forester etc then it will interest.
May 10, 2012
Ann Bridge's writing is always pleasantly enjoyable.
this novel that describes 'ex-pat' life in pre-WW2 China is no exception.
this novel that describes 'ex-pat' life in pre-WW2 China is no exception.
November 7, 2022
There are so many stiff upper lips in this novel, I'm surprised any of the characters can manage to utter a word. Or sip tea and smoke cigarettes--their other obsessions. It's the story of the Legation quarter in Peking during the early 1930s. Love affairs bloom among the young, the too young, and the middle aged. The ringmaster of this circus is Mrs. Laura Leroy, who spends the first twenty some odd pages deciding whether to go on a picnic. But it's not a picnic like most of us imagine. No, it's a four day excursion to a Buddhist temple in the hills outside of Peking. Deciding to go, Laura spends the remainder of the novel falling into an affair with a professor of psychology, Vinstead. Along the way, Chinese bandits appear, make some trouble for the picnickers, and then the heat comes and strikes down one of the youngsters.
It's not that this type novel has no place in serious literature. It's just that this book isn't serious literature. Or good fiction. It's lifeless in its description of China, the Chinese, and Peking, where places and people seem remote. Sort of like when I would visit my grandmother's house when I was young and find her expensive furniture covered in plastic. Exquisite taste turned to uncomfortable living. What I really think is going on, here, is that Peking Picnic is a down market version of A Passage to India, with Mrs. Leroy taking up the know-it-all role and queen of instincts that Mrs. Moore displays in Forster's book. Forster's effort is a masterpiece of inner thoughts combining with the imagery of exhausted empire in British Inida. Peking Picnic attempts the same in China. But making it all impossible, for me, is Mrs. Leroy. If ever the word supercilious belonged to a fictional character, it belongs to Mrs. Leroy. But, aha, this all isn't necessarily so fictional. Looking into this novel, critics have explored its connections to actual people living in the Peking Legation Quarter during the late 20s and early 30s. These people are real? Horrible to thinks so. But likely true.
I do see that Ann Bridge also has a mystery series she has written. I may take a look at that. But I'm not sure I'm up to any more of her attempts at serious subject matters.
It's not that this type novel has no place in serious literature. It's just that this book isn't serious literature. Or good fiction. It's lifeless in its description of China, the Chinese, and Peking, where places and people seem remote. Sort of like when I would visit my grandmother's house when I was young and find her expensive furniture covered in plastic. Exquisite taste turned to uncomfortable living. What I really think is going on, here, is that Peking Picnic is a down market version of A Passage to India, with Mrs. Leroy taking up the know-it-all role and queen of instincts that Mrs. Moore displays in Forster's book. Forster's effort is a masterpiece of inner thoughts combining with the imagery of exhausted empire in British Inida. Peking Picnic attempts the same in China. But making it all impossible, for me, is Mrs. Leroy. If ever the word supercilious belonged to a fictional character, it belongs to Mrs. Leroy. But, aha, this all isn't necessarily so fictional. Looking into this novel, critics have explored its connections to actual people living in the Peking Legation Quarter during the late 20s and early 30s. These people are real? Horrible to thinks so. But likely true.
I do see that Ann Bridge also has a mystery series she has written. I may take a look at that. But I'm not sure I'm up to any more of her attempts at serious subject matters.
March 11, 2022
Absolutely exquisite descriptions and interesting philosophical questions asked throughout by the characters. The setting is rather colonial and therefore a bit uncomfortably dated in some respects, however the descriptive essence and the plot itself are thoughtful and unusual. There are several strands, one of which is the conflict between living two divided lives as an expat, which I found very interesting; the second is to do with the buddhist temple they all go to visit on their picnic and the way in which the visit impacts them and their relationships towards each other; and then there are some quite psychological questions about how we all relate to one another and to the world around us, with quite a tragic and unresolved ending in some ways.
May 19, 2023
This book was quite difficult for me to read as a non native, with its beautiful but very elaborated descriptions using literate English. Even though I took me while to read it, I quite savored the whole atmosphere. The author pictures the landscapes and mystic ambiance of the temples in a glorious way that really transports you to the era.
I liked that she went so deeply into the psychology of characters and of their relationships with one another.
Even if this isn’t a page turner, this sense of intimacy is what makes the story interesting to read. However it was a relief to end that book, because the level of language was definitely too complex for me ! 🙈
I liked that she went so deeply into the psychology of characters and of their relationships with one another.
Even if this isn’t a page turner, this sense of intimacy is what makes the story interesting to read. However it was a relief to end that book, because the level of language was definitely too complex for me ! 🙈
January 20, 2025
I have to say, rather heavy sledding so far, about halfway through the book. The observations of China and Chinese life are great, as is the background of war, warlords, political intrigue. The long passages about England and the long conversations about love, not so much. Rather tedious in fact. Did people really spend this vast amount of time thinking about love 100 or so years ago? I rather doubt it. Also, the putative heroine Laura just doesn’t seem real, more like a narrative device around which other people comment and act.
OK, the passages at the end of the book when the bandits arrive is pretty good. Still, Laura just doesn’t ring true. Maybe this type of all knowing all seeing perfect in every way hero/heroine was popular 100 years ago, today…… Just seems fake.
OK, the passages at the end of the book when the bandits arrive is pretty good. Still, Laura just doesn’t ring true. Maybe this type of all knowing all seeing perfect in every way hero/heroine was popular 100 years ago, today…… Just seems fake.
June 7, 2022
Love this book. The main character’s participation in life in Beijing is constantly sabotaged by her yearning for her children, half a world away. Even so, she manages to guide a group of acquaintances on a picnic that brings them through the maelstrom of preWW2 Chinese politics, intersecting with English traditional view of Empire and foreign diplomacy.
Warning: very archaic views on social strata, wealth and privilege but reading this story helped me get a better understanding of British Empire and cultural superiority.
Warning: very archaic views on social strata, wealth and privilege but reading this story helped me get a better understanding of British Empire and cultural superiority.
March 2, 2025
Now dated by it's sensibilities and casual (read racist) descriptions of the Chinese people, Peking Picnic is full of commentary on how people are with each other. In a more modern setting and set of observations I might find this more twee and annoying, but I enjoyed it here, and some of the subject matter and the ending surprised me!
Some of the observations and descriptions of location really took me back to Hong Kong - the observation of no morning dew on the ground! And the experience of feeling alien in both places called home resonated with me.
Some of the observations and descriptions of location really took me back to Hong Kong - the observation of no morning dew on the ground! And the experience of feeling alien in both places called home resonated with me.
July 27, 2025
A rather lame story of British diplomats abroad, faintly reminiscent of "A Passage to India" with much lower stakes. Laura Leroy is an attractive 37-year old who enjoys her life in Peking but misses her 2 children, who of course are schooled in Britain. Having recently put an end to an affair, she cheerfully fulfill her duties, including to her 2 nieces, Lilah and Judith, who are in China for an extended visit. Along with a party of fellow Brits, a Frenchman and some Americans, the 3 women set off for a visit to a famous temple. During the excursion, couples form with various degrees of success. Most notably, a Cambridge professor named Vinstead falls in love with Laura. The last third of the book is enlivened by the arrival on the scene of a gaggle of brigands who seize the tourists as hostages. Lilah, who turns out to be unusually agile, manages to escape while Laura skillfully negotiates with the bandits. Eventually Laura's faithful servant saves the day and everybody goes back to Peking unharmed except for the young American Annette who dies of sunstroke. It's very much a period piece, with all the characters engaging in long discussions on the specificities of various races, by which they mean "the British", "the French" etc. But after all, I did finish it, so it can't have been that boring.
May 12, 2023
An intriguing book - it starts off as a picture of the foreign community in China in the early 1930s, it develops into a meditation on love, home sickness and the beauty of the Chinese and British Countryside and then suddenly becomes a tense and violent tale of kidnap and murder.
All these different elements mix together to make a rather beautiful and satisfying whole.
N.B. Contains the colonial attitudes, stereotypes and snobbishness of the times.
All these different elements mix together to make a rather beautiful and satisfying whole.
N.B. Contains the colonial attitudes, stereotypes and snobbishness of the times.
January 10, 2022
This book reminded me heavily of The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf with the ex-pat storyline and indeed the ending. The style of writing is dated as it is written in the 1930s and not my usual style so I didn’t really connect with the book. Bridge is very good at writing vivid imagery so that aspect I enjoyed.
November 12, 2025
had its moments for sure, especially the final portions which had a very calming effect on me. but god i hate when a book tries to do too much with weird pacing. and i also dislike fucked up translations just to drive home the backward point that like "ooh this exotic and strange culture is so silly haha" like i get its a function of the time but please ... i can feel when it's on purpose
November 13, 2020
Much better than I expected. The attitudes are a product of their time (1932) but the sense of place and insightful musings on people’s characters and the challenge of living in 2 places are really well produced.
August 4, 2019
Loved the lyrical descriptions of landscape and setting, depositing a China that has disappeared but is still relevant. Some of the interior monologues are tedious, but it’s a nice period piece.
December 16, 2019
I can relate to the author in so many ways.
June 25, 2022
As usual, Bridge's book was very interesting, but I didn't enjoy this one nearly as much as I usually do with her books. I'm not even sure exactly why I was disappointed, but I was.
September 14, 2023
3.5, beautifully written with a stunning descriptions of the landscape but hard to get into, quite slow moving.
Want to read
August 10, 2024Mentioned in Slightly Foxed Quarterly No. 82 Summer 2024
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews