What words are spoken of in silence? Can one grasp the wind? A flower and not a flower; of mist yet not of mist; at midnight she was there; she went as daylight shone. She came for a little while was like a dream of spring, and then, as morning clouds that vanish traceless, she was gone. Gwong-Jau (Canton), China, July 1834: wealthy British-Sicilian opium smuggler Charles Paul Sansovino (28 years) falls for exquisite, snake tattooed Chinese boat-girl Yin Hsueh-yen (17 years): attractive to men, she makes money that way, keeps life because of her looks. But who exactly is she, what secrets hidden in her almond eyes, disfigurement and scars; would her life be best without him? Written by Charles as a retrospective journal, the story of the White Poppy, opium whore, is an exquisite and erotic story of forbidden love and lust, taboo, set in the Victorian Opium Wars with China. It is about two strangers who shouldn't fall in love but do. Canton, forest of houseboats along the River Pearl, edge of the South China Sea: in spring plum blossom falls there like snow, wind-scattered poppy petals blowing along the forest lanes of gaudy red and green, where red paper lanterns of brothels turn the sky crimson. In Imperial China every woman belongs to a man: the birth of a boy is most important, celebrated with joy, while a girl gives one more to whore. Raped by her father at nine years, sold into sex, White Poppy's life turns to pain. White Poppy: named after the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) of the Chinese opium trade, from Calcutta, India. One whore amongst ten thousand, corruption, manipulated money and power: what is her score with the English Factor, the Chinese merchants, the policing mandarins, the Manchurian Hoppo? Why so necessary to the Brotherhood, the Canton triad? Why is she treated with contempt? For Charles White Poppy is the ultimate prize in all that is grossly obscene. Out of gaol, he steals the opium-addict with a daring plan, takes her into hiding (with the Interpreter's aid), pretends to have her killed, sends back a tattooed corpse, gets entangled further with this human butterfly (the scorpion within). Discovery would bring instant death. Escape across China disguised as a missionary priest and his "boy": her breasts bound flat, head shaven, long plait hanging at the back, a silver cross of Christ. A desperate year's journey in exile through mountains bound for Shanghai. He has his religion, she her Cantonese: each needs the other to survive. Sexually aware of she who treats him with contempt, runs away, almost gets them killed. A merchant ship via Calcutta to London, White Poppy stowed away below, and a tropical typhoon: a journey down to an imposing cliff-top villa in Kent. Baptism, marriage: he calls her Eliza and she learns English, can tell him the cruel details of her past. Her saviour sailor, "the only man she ever loved," the true secret of his betrayal, and of the She-Tigers of Canton, the Sisters of the Snake, and opium death of her baby son, result of her auspicious horoscope, born of one high-born Chinese. The births of four daughters and the challenges their lives bring: but life can be cruel and birth can bring death of loved ones: no poppy lives for ever. In the darkness, silence broken only by the water on the beach, lit fairy lights floating, we link hands. I feel Eliza's warm breath blowing away fine strands of hair across her cheek, smell the remembered fragrance of her skin; taste the sugar-and-spice of her poppy lips, her whisper on the wind. 'I love you, Charles; I always will.'