Lisbon, 1898: Philandering surgeon Antonio Maria discovers his father is dying of syphilis, scourge of both rich and poor. Determined to find a cure, he sets sail for Peking to study under the renowned Dr Xu, hoping that traditional Chinese medicine has the answer that eludes the West. But the master is evasive, and when Antonio encounters the alluringly independent Fumi, he finds first love that compels him to question everything he has known.

As he wrestles with his disbelief over ‘irrational’ Chinese views about illness, violence threatens to break out across China. The infamous Boxer rebellion separates the lovers during a siege at the Summer Palace, and Antonio must decide whether to flee or to stay in China to solve the deep mystery of Fumi’s haunted past and discover for himself the Yellow Emperor’s cure.

‘A wonderful and compellingly visual novel, whose world is as completely realised as anything by Robert Graves, Amitav Ghosh or Barry Unsworth’—William Dalrymple

‘Each time Kunal Basu uncorks his magician's bottle of historical memory and desire, he brings forth a genie of such ambitious powers that the reader is left overwhelmed . . . Basu's account is like that of a gilded butterfly fluttering in the Yellow Emperor's cage of curiosities. One more pipe of opium, please, Kunal.’—Geeta Doctor in India Today

‘A love story set on a lavish scale, Basu’s novel is a visual delight and a gripping read’.—Tabish Khair in Outlook

‘The Yellow Emperor’s Cure, is the Kind of book that sucks you in so completely that when you pause in the reading, you have to blink and wait to drop back into the perfectly banal present to notice that your breakfast, lunch or dinner is going cold at your elbow. Don’t miss it’—Mitali Saran in DNA