Tree of heaven

by R. C. Binstock

The year is 1938. The Japanese army has occupied Nanking. Kuroda, a junior officer trained as a botanist, has been left in charge of a garrison town. When he comes upon a starving, filthy Chinese woman being assaulted by his soldiers, a common enough occurrence, he does the remarkable: he rescues her and gives her his protection. Li has no choice; she becomes his servant, and a strange intimacy, born of circumstances, ensues.