This novel by C.S. Hagen is both an unexpected love story in a time and place of great violence and prejudice and a stirring tale of a man running from his past who challenges the British opium monopoly in China known as the Combination.
Saltwater Girl is set during the Boxer Rebellion (1900) - an anti-imperialist struggle waged by North China's commoners clinging to ancient mystic beliefs against a decadent Qing Dynasty and foreign aggression. Set in colorful strokes against a broad historical canvas including the Western nations vying for China's treasures, one man - James Innocent - disguised as a Lutheran reverend and AWOL from the US First Marine Corps, delves deeply into the opium trade in an attempt to destroy the Combination's powerful consortium. From inside the port city Tientsin (Tianjin) where foreigners and Celestials (locals) are divided into two parts, two wars emerge - the war against opium and the war against aggression. The Reverend not only finds his own life in danger , but struggles against falling for a Saltwater Girl - a river prostitute - who he believes may be his only friend.
Filled with sensual imagery amidst breathtaking devastation and beauty, the Saltwater Girl is a rare look into colonial and Chinese history, the clash of cultures and the ravages the opium trade brought to the Asian masses.