This book is about Lord Napier's mission to China, its subsequent failure and the unexpected founding of Hong Kong. As he sails off on his own mission, the author interweaves in, between an edited version of Napier's letters and diaries, stories of earlier attempts by the West (mainly British) to make contact with China, and their relevance to an understanding of why Napier's mission was doomed from the start. This takes up about half of the book before Napier even lands in China. An attempt to recreate the exotic and mysterious Far East setting by invoking an impression of cadavers, unwanted babies and the mournful wailing of the dugongs (mammals) amidst the junks, warships and bustling trade activities all floating together in the bay of Hong Kong seems a little surreal. According to the author, the Chinese, bless their inscrutable little hearts, will not lift a hand to assist strangers for fear of being drawn into a perverted world of Confucian logic of somehow contributing to that person's plight in the first instance. Nor was opium such an odious commodity in the 19th Century. And even if it was, Lord Napier was an enlightened and politically-correct gentleman (who wasn't?) but was unable to right things in his time. This is pure hokum and a bit of eye-wash considering that the author is a direct descendant of Napier. There is no doubt that Napier failed in his mission to liberalise trade with China but the author's premise is that history should not pin all the blame for failure on him alone. There was also the King of England, Lord Grey, the rogue traders and of course, the inscrutable Chinese.

Priscilla Napier was a wonderful author, not only of the Napier family (which she married into, not descended from) but also of primate study (under the name PH Napier). She died early in 1999, and will be missed. Her books, including Barbarian Eye, were a result of her historical research into the conditions and events which take place in them. Her husband was in the Navy, so you can be assured that her use of naval history is accurate, and her descriptions of foreign places are both strange and true. Perhaps she does write with a kind eye towards her main character, but which writer does not?