"With a dramatic sense of time and place, Caroline Petit has woven a story as intricate as embroidered Chinese silk. She blends a tragic period in Asian history with the extraordinary journey of Leah Kolbe, a compelling character who is perfect for Petit's late-1930s Hong Kong."-Jacqueline Winspear, author of Maisie Dobbs and Birds of a Feather Hong Kong, 1937. Orphaned at the age of 19 by the sudden death of her father, a shady Hong Kong dealer in antiquities, Leah Kolbe finds that she has also been left penniless. Her only assets are the skills her father taught connoisseurship, secretiveness and duplicity. She is approached by a Mr. Chang, who claims to have known her father and offers her a commission to go to Manchukuo (the Japanese puppet kingdom recently established in Manchuria) to smuggle out Chinese imperial treasures-and the chief eunuch. She consents, and, accompanied by her faithful amah and a white Russian woman in Chang's pay, she takes the train north. The trip is perilous, as is her return, through besieged Nanking and by sampan across the South China Sea. But it is not until she reaches the empty house on Victoria Peak back in Hong Kong that Leah realizes that she has become a woman with a country of one. Caroline Petit was born in Washington, DC, raised in Maryland and now lives in Victoria, Australia with her husband. She is a graduate of Chatham College in Pittsburgh and holds advanced degrees from Johns Hopkins University, the London School of Economics and the University of Melbourne's Law School. She is a writer and producer for Write Angle Productions, and her writing has appeared in numerous publications. The Fat Man's Daughter is her first novel.

Praise for The Fat Man’s Daughter : “When they work—when the balance between art and research is close to perfection—crime novels that illuminate an historical period are things of beauty. Caroline Petit’s first novel falls into that illustrious company. She catches the sights, smells, sounds and tastes of Hong Kong, China and Manchuria in 1937 as they filter through the senses of a fascinating young woman... Under the amazingly sure hand of Petit, an Australian writer of rare abilities, every aspect of this terrific story comes to life.”— Chicago Tribune “Remarkable... Irresistible.”— Advocate (Tennessee) “An excellent suspense story, a bona fide tour of China as it was then, with menacing characters and swift, sure punishment.”— Orange County Register “Vivid . . . the journey into womanhood as exotic action-adventure.”— Publishers Weekly “The extraordinary journey of Leah Kolbe, a compelling character.”—Jacqueline Winspear Leah Kolbe, the daughter of a recently deceased British antiquities dealer, escapes to Macao as the Japanese occupy Hong Kong, where her fiancé is interned and where she has long lived. As a spy for the British, she takes a Japanese lover. When she returns with provisions on the first boat to reach liberated Hong Kong, she finds the English survivors totally altered. Although her fiancé cannot bear to remain in Hong Kong, Leah chooses to stay on and rebuild. Caroline Petit was born and raised in the United States but now lives in Victoria, Australia. Her debut, featuring Leah Kolbe, was The Fat Man’s Daughter .