Titled Escape: The Love Story from Whirlwind, the book is generally not considered an official part of the Asian Saga nonetheless, some reviewers said it helped flesh out several aspects of the original novel. Īfter publishing Whirlwind, Clavell wrote a shorter version of the story which focused on two characters from the book. Clavell peppers the entire Asian Saga with these genealogical Easter eggs. John Marlowe, the captain who married Malcolm Struan and Angelique Richaud against the wishes of Tess Struan, as Clavell refers often to Peter Marlowe's family's long history of naval service.

For instance, Peter Marlowe is almost certainly a descendant of Lt. There are dozens of characters throughout the series, with very complex family relationships and a great deal of history that is hinted at but never described in detail. As a tie-in, Linc Bartlett's ( Noble House) namesake ancestor appears in Clavell's film, Walk Like a Dragon (1960). For example, two characters from King Rat (Robin Grey and Peter Marlowe) reappear in Noble House, and Robert Armstrong is a major character in both Noble House and Whirlwind. Some of the characters make appearances in multiple books, and many characters from one book are referred to in later books. Gai-Jin provides the major link between the Shōgun and Struan's storylines. 1147 pages (Abridged with some rewritten parts as Escape, 598 pages)įour of the six books- Tai-Pan, Gai-Jin, Noble House, and Whirlwind-follow the dealings of the great trading company Struan's, the Noble House of Asia (based on Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited), its founder Dirk Struan, and his various descendants. King Rat: set in a Japanese POW camp, Singapore, 1945.The purpose of the Asian Saga was, according to Clavell-descendant of a family long in service to the British Empire, and who was a prisoner of war of the Japanese during the Second World War-to tell 'the story of the Anglo-Saxon in Asia'. The name Asian Saga was first applied to the series after Shōgun had been published. The novels all centre on Europeans in Asia, and together explore the impact on East and West of the meeting of these two distinct civilizations. The Asian Saga is a series of six novels written by James Clavell between 19. JSTOR ( October 2007) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.

Clavell james shogun