Noble House
1987 paperback edition
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| Author | James Clavell |
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| Country | United Kingdom, United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Asian Saga |
| Genre | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Delacorte Press |
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Publication date
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April 1981 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| ISBN | (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC | 233936182 |
| Preceded by | King Rat |
| Followed by | Whirlwind |
Noble House is a novel by James Clavell, published in 1981 and set in Hong Kong in 1963.
It is a massive book, well over 1000 pages, with dozens of characters and numerous intermingling plot lines. In 1988, it was adapted as a television miniseries for NBC, starring Pierce Brosnan. The miniseries updates the storyline of the novel to the 1980s.
The Noble House also is a nickname of Struan's, the trading company featured prominently in most of Clavell's novels.
Noble House is set in 1963. The tai-pan, Ian Dunross, struggles to rescue Struan's from the precarious financial position left by his predecessor. To do this, he seeks partnership with an American millionaire, while trying to ward off his arch-rival Quillan Gornt, who seeks to destroy Struan's once and for all. Meanwhile, Chinese communists, Taiwanese nationalists, and Soviet spies illegally vie for influence in Hong Kong while the British government seeks to prevent this. And nobody, it seems, can get anything done without enlisting the aid of Hong Kong's criminal underworld. Other obstacles include water shortages, landslides, bank runs and .
In Noble House, Dunross finds his company the target of a hostile takeover at a time when Struan's is desperately overextended. He is also embroiled in international espionage when he finds himself in possession of secret documents desperately desired by both the KGB and MI6. The novel follows Dunross' attempts to extricate himself from all this and to save Struan's, the Noble House.
Struan and Company is based on Jardine Matheson Holdings, which continues to exist as an Asian trading company. The chief character, Ian Dunross, is believed to be a composite character of two real life Jardine Matheson tai-pans, Sir Hugh Barton and Sir Michael Herries.
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Wikipedia