From the confines of China to the Australian bush, via the smoky clubs of Shanghai, from the end of the Second World War to the 1960s, the destiny of an exile ready to do anything to conquer her place. A superb novel, full of life, scope, and exoticism. Anya, a little Russian girl exiled in China, is thirteen years old when her life is turned upside down by horror: her father, a former officer of the Tsar, dies accidentally, while her mother is deported to the USSR. Anya is narrowly saved by neighbors, who send her to Shanghai, to stay with their friend Sergei, a nightclub owner. Sergei is kind and generous, but he is also an opium addict; Amelia, his American wife, shows great hostility towards the young girl. Despite this, Anya discovers luxury, the easy life, and love in the person of Dimitri, to whom she gives herself body and soul. Alas! Love knows many torments, and Anya will discover the bitter taste of betrayal...