Disoriented

Kate isafflicted with deafness as a child in China in the 1800s, where her Irish refugee father Samuel lives an apparently blameless life working for the Chinese Maritime Customs Service. After his death, his family discover a shocking fact.As a young woman nowneeding to support herself,Kate has very limited options, and agrees to marry theclever but disturbingly odd Geoffrey, whose personal problems and disastrous choicescontinue to makefor a colourful, difficult and adventurous life.He, Kate and their first child, faced with a business failure, race from China under siegeto settle in Japan, where, amongst other influential people, Geoffrey meets the exiled Sun Yat Sen.Kate constantly faces dramatic changes:from a respectable middle-class Victorian Miss in Colonial Chefoo,life amongst professionals in the Japan of the Last Emperor; a train journey aloneacross Russia with four small children;and learning to cope as an impoverishedhousewife in war-torn England.In her humdrum old age, Kate is suddenly confronted by a lively skeleton from her father's past, and his secret relationship.Based on a true story, this is a compelling tale of adventure, and of overcoming enormous odds. It tells ofKate's first love, her relationship with her family, her helps, and an unexpected visitor; andreveals her warmth and strength of character.