In Peking in those days there were all sorts of eligible marine and naval officers, embassy officials, and attachés, many of whom hadn’t seen an unattached white girl in months or even years, to whom the sight of any woman—particularly a rich American one—was welcome. A girl traveling to Peking wouldn’t expect to meet an American novelist, but that was what had happened to Miss Adelaide Hooker in 1935 when she met John Marquand—wearing shorts and a pith helmet—on a beach on the Gulf of Chihli on the Yellow Sea. Adelaide was traveling with her sister Helen, who was en route from Tokyo to Ireland to marry Ernie O’Malley, the Irish revolutionist. A third sister, Blanchette, had already married John D. Rockefeller III, while a fourth Hooker girl, Barbara, like Adelaide, was unmarried. At first, the Hooker girls mistook John Marquand for an Englishman. Adelaide, who was Vassar Class of 1925, had been out of college for ten years, and John Marquand, who was forty-two, was touring the Orient for material for his Mr.
What do You think about The Late John Marquand (2016)?
