A Looking-Glass World Elizabeth Reeder Murphy was born in 1969

Murphy was born in 1969

his fellow pupils’ cruelty and the mysterious but forbidden attractions of sex into an imagined world centred on horse-racing and played out in the dusty backyard of his home

and set a precedent repeated later in his friendship with Murdoch

This is a work of great beauty

A Looking-Glass World Elizabeth Reeder Murphy was born in 19691900. For Tianjins European colonists a profitable new century is dawning, but for the citys downtrodden Chinese natives the Zodiac cycles end signals imminent catastrophe. Meanwhile the fearsome Boxer warriors said by some to be bulletproof are spilling in from the provinces. On restless streets, a dangerous liaison begins. Ouyang Jue, gentle layabout and heir to a merchant fortune, finds himself entangled with Xnia, a French officers daughter