Ghosts of Shanghai: Shadow of the Yangtze

J G Ballard's Empire of the Sun meets Susan Hill's The Woman in Black in a compelling teen thriller ...

Ruby - a Western girl who feels more Chinese than English - and her friend Charlie must follow the Yangtze hundreds of miles upriver, travelling by Chinese junk and rogue steamer, through bandit and ghost haunted countryside - doggedly tracking Moonface as he spirits Charlie's sister Fei off to his home village. Everything is in flux around them: civil war pulsing, with Nationalists, Communists and warlord bandits struggling for control. The river rises and falls, villages spring up and are gone again.

Ruby and Charlie brave a shipwreck and a gunbattle and then take a perilous cliff path to Moonface's lair.

“Ruby is a wonderful character, brave and determined; the storytelling dramatic and perceptive, giving a real sense of place”

-- Sarah Brew Parents In Touch

Julian Sedgwick was born in Kent in 1966. A lifelong interest in the arts and culture of China and Japan has influenced much of his work - he read Oriental Studies and Philosophy at Cambridge, and between 2001 and 2007, travelled widely in Japan. He has always written but before focusing his energies on children's fiction, he worked as a bookseller and therapist. He lives with his wife Isabel and their sons Joseph and William in Ely, Cambs. Visit his website at

J G Ballard's Empire of the Sun meets Susan Hill's The Woman in Black in a compelling teen thriller ...Ruby - a Western girl who feels more Chinese than English - and her friend Charlie must follow the Yangtze hundreds of miles upriver, travelling by Chinese junk and rogue steamer, through bandit and ghost haunted countryside - doggedly tracking Moonface as he spirits Charlie's sister Fei off to his home village. Everything is in flux around them: civil war pulsing, with Nationalists, Communists and warlord bandits struggling for control. The river rises and falls, villages spring up and are gone again. Ruby and Charlie brave a shipwreck and a gunbattle and then take a perilous cliff path to Moonface's lair.

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