Mandarin (novel)

Mandarin is a lengthy Robert Elegant novel published by Simon & Schuster in 1983. It is set in China during the Taiping Rebellion.

Plot

Characters

• Saul Haleevie - an Orthodox rabbi and Shanghai silk merchant.
• Sarah - Saul's worrisome wife.
• Fronah - Saul and Sarah's daughter.
• Aisek Lee - a Chinese silk merchant and partner of Saul Haleevie born into Judaism. He becomes imprisoned and Saul, Aaron, and David try to bribe government officials to get him out of prison.
• Aaron - Aisek's son.
• David - Aisek's son.
• Lionel - Fronah's first husband, who becomes an opium addict and dies.
• Gabriel Hyde - Fronah's second husband, who has a Jewish mother.
• Yenehala - ambitious, clever, and beautiful concubine who manipulates the corrupt emperor into having his first child by her.