Mandarin, subtitled ''A Novel of Viet Nam'', is a novel by

John Havan John Havan was born in Paris, France, in 1933. His Vietnamese father, a University of Paris, Sorbonne graduate in law, became Minister of Finance, Finance Minister under the administration of South Vietnamese President (government title), Presi ...

. The protagonist, ''Bach'', is the first-born son of the most powerful

mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

at the

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (chữ Nôm: 茹阮, vi, Nhà Nguyễn; chữ Hán: 阮朝, vi, Nguyễn triều) was the last Vietnamese dynasty, which ruled the unified Vietnamese state largely independently from 1802 to 1883. During its existence, ...

court in Hue.* At the time of Bach's birth, Virtnam's historical feudal system is locked in a struggle with French colonial exploitation, Japanese imperialism, and Ho Chi Minh's communist fanatics. Bach grows up to be a robust and handsome young man, irresistible to the women in his life, brilliant at his studies and with a natural gift for the martial arts, but his way of life is doomed in the cataclysmic birth throes of the modern Vietnamese socialist state. The book is an epic tale of love and war, struggle, loss, and rebirth. A sequel, ''

The Tiger General The Tiger General, subtitled ''The Memoirs of a Vietnamese Intelligence Chief'', is a novel by John Havan. It was first published in 2011, and is a sequel to the 2008 novel Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Ch ...

'', chronicles the life of Bach's son, ''Hai''.

References

2008 novels English-language novels Novels set in Vietnam Historical novels {{2000s-hist-novel-stub