The Perfect Tea Thief

Chun’s (The Seagull’s Gardener) tame historical fiction novel focuses on Scottish gardener/adventurer Robert Fortune and his theft of the secret of tea from China in the mid-19th century. All of China has been cowed by the British gunboats and their victory in the Opium Wars , so even though foreigners are forbidden to travel inland or acquire any knowledge of tea production, Fortune flouts these laws freely. Chun tells much of the story from the perspective of Mandarin Poe’s family, tea merchants who keep tabs on Fortune, attempting to thwart his plans. Though the true story of bringing tea to the West could have been an exciting novel, this isn’t it, and any reader’s knowledge of the current ubiquity of tea time saps the suspense. Hints are occasionally dropped of a secret society and martial arts masters, but nothing comes of them. Chun beautifully describes the teas and landscapes of China, but Fortune’s dastardly exploits aren’t enough to power this story. (BookLife)