THE LAST EMPRESS

In Min's first book, EMPRESS ORCHID, Alexandra O'Karma portrayed a 17-year-old concubine whose feisty temperament gained her entrance to the bed of the emperor and put her in a powerful position. Now Empress Tzu Hsi, who is based on a real-life nineteenth-century figure, is middle-aged, and O'Karma's voice portrait is mature and weary. This makes more and more sense as Empress Orchid ages and faces nonstop personal and political stresses. She gives up the man she loves, sees her birth son die, and discovers her adopted son's weakness. Her impoverished government is under siege by foreign powers and is being attacked from within by warring factions. Despite all, O'Karma's delivery reveals the strength and caring of this fictionalized character in a portrait that, according to the author, attempts to "rehabilitate" history's vilifying picture of the Empress. S.W. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 07]