Dominica Drazal finds an intersection of history and erotica in Linda Jaivin’s A Most Immoral Woman

A glimmer of The Vagina Monologues , a dash of Sex and the City, a pinch of Wordsworth and a whisper of Hemingway make up Linda Jaivin’s newest book. China scholar, literary translator, erotic fiction writer and author of the sexy classic Eat Me, Jaivin restrains her sexual bravado in this historical novel to reflect the Victorian attitudes of the time. Nevertheless, she is deft in hypnotizing the reader with her explicit, impassioned and sensual descriptions of love and obsession in a time of war.

Erotica coupled with comedy is a charming tactic, and one that Jaivin maneuvers well as she intrigues with her witty tale of the sexual, political and personal obsessions of Westerners in 1904 China, as the Russians and the Japanese fight for territory in Manchuria. Woven within the historical background of the war is the story of a turbulent love affair between two real-life characters: Australian foreign correspondent and adventurer George Ernest Morrison, and American heiress Mae Perkins. Using Morrison’s biography and Mae’s family archives as a source for the foundation of the story, Jaivin executes a seamless mixture of fiction and fact.

Considered an eligible Western bachelor in China and somewhat capricious and bored in his relations with women and men alike, Morrison becomes intrigued by Perkins at their first encounter. As the affair develops, Morrison discovers that Perkins has a lengthy list of lovers. Being a free-spirited and astonishingly honest woman who “has much hold on honor as the Empress Dowager [Cixi],” she is open about indulging her passion with whomever she chooses (“I make no pretence of propriety!”), and refuses to be constrained by the morals of the time.

Morrison is fighting a war on two fronts. On one hand he is unable to resist falling in love with Perkins and, as his fervor grows, he finds that the relationship inspires him and also causes him despair. Perkins’ attentions “made him feel simultaneously cherished and diminished–he felt unmanned by her, a eunuch in her court.” The story develops with unexpected twist s and makes us wonder, what is love?

Just as he tries to distinguish truth from fiction in his relationship with Perkins, he tries to distinguish truth from propaganda in his role as a journalist. Morrison finds himself constantly distracted from his work just when the increasingly complicated war is in need of his attention. Jaivin gracefully switches between her vivid descriptions of the characters’ political and social exchanges and their romantic and sexual exchanges. Her novel is thoroughly researched and, through her ability to understand the subtle aspects of the Chinese and Japanese cultures, she deftly recreates the past. She captures everything from quotidian delights to the multi-layered domestic political nuances and international tribulations.

Next time you feel naughty–but not outrageously so–pick up this colorful and thought-provoking novel, the story of a love affair that sheds light on the social mores for women at the turn of the century. The author takes the reader on a delightful, unpredictable and original journey in which she captures the essence of time and place. ■ Dominica Drazal

Jaivin will be speaking at the Shanghai International Literary Festival on Saturday, March 20, at 1pm, in The Glamour Bar (¥65, includes a drink). HarperCollins