In this two-part historical novel, the two martial arts masters are the teachers featured in the 2000 film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (based on Chinese author Wang Dulu's books). This book offers two interconnected stories about star-crossed lovers in a 19th-century world of Chinese martial arts, intrigue, and cultural constraints. In the first one, Chiang Shiao-ho is determined to kill his father's murderers and the abuser when he was an orphan. Chang is in agony between the duty of revenge and his love for the patriarch's granddaughter Bo Ah-ran. In Yu's (Chinese Mosaic. New Edition 2021) second tale, Lee Mo-bai (Chiang Shiao-ho's nephew) is a pampered heir of a landowner and an expert in the literary and martial arts. He is torn between his love of a living widow Yu Ceo-lian and an artistic prostitute. These two tragic love stories reflect the Chinese people's wishes to eradicate two cruel traditions: an eye for eye vengeance and a living widow. The characters in these stores are rich in texture and shaped by both thoughtful moral dilemmas and hyper-dynamic action. The two moving tales are skillfully propelled by acts of betrayal, honor, and duty.
