Jody Shields account of a plague ravaging Kharbin (Harbin in Chinese) in 1910 is particularly appropriate to today; she describes in moving detail the fears and anxieties of this borderland, contested by Russia, China, and Japan, as more victims are claimed by the unnamed disease. The story is told from the viewpoint of The Baron, a Russian doctor sent by the Czarist government to this outpost to help secure Russia’s land claim against China. But The Baron is not a nationalist, but a humanist who helps explore all dimensions of the crisis. He is married to a Chinese woman, Li Ju, and is a great admirer of the local tea tradition and calligraphy in particular. By explaining these aspects of Chinese culture through Tbe Baron’s eyes, Shields gives a palpable sense of what is jettisoned as the bacillus claims more and more victims. There are also startling parallels to today, as Japanese soldiers refuse to take a Chinese serum, assuming it is meant to kill them. “What’s here today would scarcely have been believable yesterday,” one character observes (312). This is a richly imagined novel of a disaster, despite the somewhat slow plotting.