High Road to China, The Book

High Road to China by Jon Cleary - It wasn't until fairly recently that I learned that one of my favourite films from childhood had been based on a book. I read a few online reviews and they all said that the film was basically nothing like the book. It takes place around the same time and there are a few people going by plane to China with stops along the way to refuel. That's pretty much all they got from the book. Oh, and that the leads are Eve Tozer and O'Malley, but even O'Malley's first name is different. In the book there is a Chinese man who must escort the trio to China, where Eve's father has been kidnapped and is being held hostage for two weeks until Eve can return a precious jade statue to a Chinese General. High Road to China is one of the best adventure books I have ever read and would be a brilliant film, if they actually used the source material and stuck with the story. 

Jon Cleary's writing sometimes read like poetry and here are a few lines that stood out. That man sure knew how to paint a stunning picture in the reader's mind's eye. If you like a good old fashioned, well written adventure yarn, this book is not to be missed.

Strips of cloud turned red, like blood-stained bandages; the morning was ominously quiet, as if death had already touched it.

At 12,000 feet they levelled off, sat like eagles in the shining galleries of sky.

Her grandmother didn’t believe anyone, gentleman or lady, should swear, even in front of the Irish…

…they flew on over the old caravan roads that marked the desert below like the graffiti of ancient travellers. 

They passed over rivers that glittered like gem-encrusted snakes on vast green lawns below.

That afternoon, over the Yunnan hills, we flew through air that was more than just elements; it was sheer light, clear, shining and cleansing.