Gudao, Lone Islet

From time to time a city steps onto the world stage as the embodiment of modernity to which people flock for fame and entertainment, power, money and limitless opportunity. In the 1930s Shanghai was such a place. Thus begins Margaret Blair's multifaceted, powerful and moving story.

Born in Shanghai in 1936, Margaret Blair was interned by the Japanese from 1942-45. She then traveled to Scotland and studied History at Glasgow University. Margaret later completed an M.B.A. at the University of Toronto. She has had three careers: as a secondary school teacher, marketing researcher in the social and financial fields and mother of three children who have three children of their own. Margaret Blair lives with her husband, a retired member of the University of Toronto faculty, beside a river among Mennonite farms in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Please visit http://www.margaretblair.com