China, 1833. The Qing Empire still stands proud, but Western traders have discovered the key to its riches: opium. Robert Gunn, a young Scotsman determined to make his fortune, arrives on the China coast with ambition, courage and few scruples. Drawn into a ruthless world of merchants, smugglers and mandarins, he soon learns that wealth comes at a terrible price. Every step towards power demands compromise, and every success carries him further from the man he once was. As the illegal opium trade grows and the collision between East and West becomes inevitable, Gunn finds himself caught in a dangerous struggle where fortunes are won through violence, deception and betrayal. Rich in historical detail and sweeping adventure, Mandarin-Gold is the gripping first novel in James Leasor's acclaimed Robert Gunn Trilogy. Together, they chart the rise of Western commercial power in nineteenth-century Asia through the remarkable life of one unforgettable adventurer. "A highly absorbing account of the corruption of an individual during a particularly sordid era of British imperial history."The Sunday Times