Historical fiction at its best and most instructive, April 9, 2005

Oftentimes, one can learn more about the past from a work of historical fiction than from an academic or journalistic textbook. History can tell you what happened, but good historical fiction can take you there and let a part of you experience it for yourself. China Diaries is an extraordinarily good work of historical fiction, providing readers with an illuminating window into the World War II experience of China. For whatever reason, the extent of the atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers on the Chinese people has never seemed to register properly in the public consciousness - then or now. In the 1930s, the world turned a blind eye to Japanese aggression, despite the absolute horrors of atrocities such as the rape of Nanking. Louis Stannard wants to tell this neglected story of the war, and he succeeds admirably in doing so. Stannard also brings to light an even more neglected aspect of World War II, one I was completely unfamiliar with - namely, the important contributions of Pan Am's small fleet of Clipper boat planes in the Chinese theater of war. As an experienced pilot himself, Stannard does an impeccable job explaining the realities of aviation in that era, and that lends the story a pervasive air of authenticity. Of course, a good historical novel also has to have a good story, and China Diaries features a truly compelling one full of romance, danger, heroism, betrayal, and personal discovery.

Stephen Cannon never knew his parents, both of whom died during World War II. The only connection he has with them is in the form of the journals they left behind, journals he calls the China Diaries because they describe the life of his parents in China in the late 1930s. His father was a pilot who flew for the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC), while his mother was a Russian émigré from Shanghai who worked for the CNAC, married his father against the backdrop of the opening hostilities in Hong Kong, and - for reasons Stephen never understood - left her newborn baby in the States in order to return to China in the early 1940s, whereupon she disappeared. Fifty years later, a young Chinese exchange student contacts Stephen out of the blue and tells him that his great-uncle has information about his mother, Anna Boreisha Cannon, and is eager to share it with him - in fact, the man claims to owe his very life to Anna. Soon, Stephen is on his way to Hong Kong, hoping to finally learn the enigmatic secrets of his mother's extraordinary life.

This is really Anna's story, and it is a truly remarkable one. Some of it comes in the form of her journal entries, but most of it is presented in standard narrative form. Life as a young Russian girl in Shanghai held little promise in the 1930s, but Anna's father saw to it that his daughter was highly educated. That education provided the means for her to get a job with the CNAC and escape her home town when the Japanese invaded. Anna spent the rest of her life seemingly running just ahead of the invading Japanese army. She was in Hong Kong when it was attacked, she witnessed the horrors of the rape of Nanking, and she desperately sought to get word of the Japanese atrocities out to the rest of the world, naively believing they would come to China's aid if they only knew what was really taking place at the murderous hands of the Japanese. While she was in Hong Kong, she met and fell in love with American pilot Alex Cannon, and the reader is treated to an intimate look at their loving relationship as seen against the backdrop of war. Now following his mother's footsteps in Hong Kong and China, Stephen finally learns the remaining history of the mother he never knew. It all makes for a powerful story, one quite capable of changing lives even in the here and now.

China Diaries paints an incredibly revealing portrait of China during the decade of Japanese aggression. It is an ugly time of war, prejudice, treason, betrayal, and mass murder, yet it also extols the incredible bravery of extraordinary women such as Anna and the men of the CNAC who continued to support the Chinese people as best they could in their time of need. This is the story of World War II as it played out on the other side of the globe, a story made no less horrifying by its lack of German concentration camps or sadistic storm troopers. The historical events making up the foundation of this novel did actually happen. The rest of the world, as typified by the League of Nations, ignored the plight of a suffering people in the 1930s and thereby helped bring about the global conflagration of World War II and the later scourge of Communism to the world's most populous country. One must never ignore the horrors of man's inhumanity to man because such horrors will not end until good men somewhere work up the fortitude to take it upon themselves to stop it. China Diaries is not about the U.S. war effort that eventually turned the tides of war, but it does offer insights into the reluctance of America to join the noble fight up until everything changed on a peaceful Sunday morning in Pearl Harbor. We must learn from the mistakes of the past, and China Diaries - besides telling an incredibly gripping story - makes for an excellent and very instructive history lesson for us all.