A historical mystery in early 20th century China
Naples, 1900, the Piedmontese lieutenant Luigi Bianchi, part of the Second Italian Contingent sent to quell the Boxer revolt, is finally on board the steamer Java en route for China. The journey, however, does not promise to be peaceful at all: sabotage, storms, epidemics and… a crime. In fact, in the boiler room is found the lifeless body of a stowaway, whose identity no one seems to know. Who is this man? What was he doing on board? And above all, is there a murderer among the crew members? Maybe planning to kill again? Lieutenant Bianchi, aided by medical lieutenant Maurizio Valente and Sergeant Vincenzo Bertelli, will be given the task of investigating the crime but soon the investigation will turn into a struggle for survival because it will be clear that someone absolutely does not want the Giava to arrive in China.
Shanmei was born in Milan (Italy) in the late 1960s. After graduating, and a research thesis in Modern and Contemporary History of Asia at the University of Turin, her research focused on Boxer China and the condition of women in the Qing era. Over the years she has written dozens of novelette, novels and many short stories (especially flash fiction) still unpublished and some in the process of being translated in English and French.
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