As Robert Lam sets off on his voyage up the coast of Vancouver Island, the last passenger he expects is a ghost. But when the spirit of Lam Fam—the woman who raised him—suddenly and mysteriously appears, the trip they embark on initiates a quest for the truth about a past both have been avoiding for too many years.
Together Robert and Lam Fam relive a harrowing story that begins in nineteenth-century China and takes them on a journey through the South China Sea, across the Pacific to the shores of British Columbia and the dangerous, secretive labyrinth of the B.C. opium trade. There follows a rich and compelling tale of love and deception, greed and drugs—all set against a background of fascinating historical detail and the clash of transplanted cultures.
