Noble House

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**Title** **Noble House**
1987 paperback edition
Author	James Clavell
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Asian Saga
Genre(s)	Historical novel
Publisher	Delacorte Press
Released	April 1981
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 0-385-28737-2 (first edition, hardback)
Preceded by	King Rat
Followed by	Whirlwind

For the miniseries based on this book, see Noble House (TV series).

Noble House is a novel by James Clavell, published in 1981 and set in Hong Kong in 1963. It is part of Clavell's Asian Saga.

It is a massive book, well over 1000 pages, with dozens of characters and numerous intermingling plot lines. In 1988, it was adapted as a television miniseries for NBC starring Pierce Brosnan. The miniseries updates the storyline of the novel to the 1980s.

The Noble House also is a nickname of Struan's, the trading company featured prominently in most of Clavell's novels.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Noble House is set in 1963. The tai-pan, Ian Dunross, struggles to rescue Struan's from the precarious financial position left over from his predecessor. To do this, he seeks partnership with an American millionaire, while trying to ward off Quillan Gornt, who seeks to destroy Struan's once and for all. Meanwhile, Chinese communists, Taiwanese nationalists, and Soviet spies illegally vie for influence in Hong Kong while the British government seeks to prevent this. And nobody, it seems, can get anything done without enlisting the aid of Hong Kong's criminal underworld.

A major difference between the original novel and the later miniseries adaptation is the television version changes the setting from 1963 to the late 1980s, and updates visible technology accordingly.

Struan and Company is based on Jardine Matheson which continues to exist to this day as an Asia based trading company.

[edit] Main characters

Robert Armstrong - scrupulously honest police Superintendent.
Lincoln Bartlett - American millionaire, head of Par-Con Industries. He is a devotee on Sun Tzu and views business as a kind of war. He believes in corporate espionage and misleading his partners as he vies for advantage. But he is an honest businessman according to the rules that he accepts, and he does not engage in illegal activities. He is in love with his corporate Vice President, Casey Tcholok.
Phillip Chen - He is a director and fourth compradore of Struan's, and a descendant of the company's founder, Dirk Struan. His full name is Phillip T'Chung Sheng Chen.
Roger Crosse - Senior superintendent, director of Special Intelligence, meaning he is the senior British intelligence officer in Hong Kong.
Ian Dunross - Tenth tai-pan of Struan's. Dunross finds his company the target of a hostile takeover from his arch-rival Quillan Gornt at a time when it is desperately overextended. He is also embroiled in international espionage when he finds himself in possession of secret documents desperately desired by both the KGB and MI6.
Quillan Gornt - Gornt is the tai-pan of Gornt-Rothwell, a major Hong Kong trading company. As a descendant of Tyler Brock, he is the blood enemy of Ian Dunross and the entire Struan's company, which Gornt seeks to destroy. Gornt schemes to persuade millionaire Lincoln Bartlett to partner with him, rather than with Dunross. He uses whatever devious and underhanded means available to accomplish this, while trying his best to seduce Bartlett's partner and vice-president Casey Tcholok.
Brian Kwok - Hong Kong police Superintendent, working in Special Intelligence. He is being groomed to be the first ever Chinese assistant police commissioner. He was sent to Hong Kong from mainland China at age 6, won a scholarship to an English public school at age 12, two years later in 1939 moved to Canada because of the war. He served in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the Vancouver Chinatown, before transferring to Hong Kong.
Casey Tcholok - Kamalian Ciranoush (K.C.) Tcholok, vice-President of Par-Con Industries. Casey is charged with putting together a partnership deal with Struan's, a deal which is critical to save Struan's from ruin. In the meantime, Bartlett is exploring doing the deal with Struan's rival Quillan Gornt. Casey finds herself being drawn to both Gornt and Struan's tai-pan Ian Dunross, while watching with dread as Bartlett falls in love with Gornt's protege Orlanda Ramos.
Four Finger Wu - Sang Fang Wu is the head of the seaborne Wu, a large smuggling fleet. He boasts his fleet will smuggle anything, anywhere. This includes narcotic smuggling. He has Old Friend status with Struan's, indicating that the two families have had a long working relationship and have built up a great deal of trust. Ian Dunross, the current tai-pan of Struan's, continues to cultivate this relationship, though he encourages Wu to avoid narcotics trafficking as being too dangerous.

[edit] Minor characters

Geoffrey Allison - Allison is the highly competent Governor of Hong Kong. A seasoned diplomat, he is very polite and sociable, but at the same time very alert and shrewd. He has a hands-off style of leadership, and uses his authority quietly in the background to help insure things continue running smoothly.
Vincenzo Banastasio - American mafioso with ties to Asian smuggling.
Dunston Barre - Business executive.
Luis Basilio - Head of the stock exchange.
Charles Biltzmann - Vice-president of American Superfoods.
Barbara Chen - John Chen's overbearing wife.
Claudia Chen - Executive secretary to the tai-pan, distant cousin to Phillip Chen.
Dianne Chen - Dianne Mai-wai T'Chung, wife of Phillip Chen, descendant of Dirk Struan.
John Chen - Son of Phillip Chen; director of Struan's, secretly colluding with Lincoln Bartlett.
Pun Po Chen - Member of Werewolves criminal gang and distant cousin of John Chen.
Sarah Chen - Phillip Chen's aunt.
Smiler Ching - Banker, drug runner.

Paul (Profitable) Choy is the son of Four Finger Wu, publicly known as his nephew. Unlike his father he was educated in America, eventually receiving a Harvard MBA. His nickname Profitable comes from his skill at effecting tremendous business coups and creating huge wealth. Following the death of his father, Profitable took and redeemed Jin-Qua's half-coin to establish a Chinese stock exchange in Hong Kong with the aid of Ian Dunross. By the time of Whirlwind, he has become the richest and most powerful Chinese businessman in all of Hong Kong. He also appears in the novel, Whirlwind.

Lim Chu - Alastair Struan's personal servant.
Tom Connichie - CIA Agent.
Jacques deVille - Member of Struan's inner court.
Susanne deVille - Wife of Jacques deVille.
Adryon Dunross - Daughter of Ian and Penelope Dunross.
Duncan Dunross - Son of Ian and Penelope Dunross.
Glenna Dunross - Daughter of Ian and Penelope Dunross.
Penelope Dunross - Wife of Ian Dunross.
Sam and Molly Finn - Known communist sympathizers.
Bill Foster - Struan agent in Australia.
Henry Foxwell - Senior Superintendent of Traffic.
Ginny Fu - Gregor Suslev's mistress.
Andrew Gavallan - Member of Struan's inner court.
Kathren Gavallan - Sister of Ian Dunross.
Alan Medford Grant - associate of the Institute for Strategic Planning in London, and an informant for Struan's.
Martin Haply - Muckraking journalist from Canada.
Paul Havergill - Deputy chief manager of Victoria Bank, secret ally of Quillan Gornt.
Alan Holdbrook - Struan's stockbroker.
Captain Janelli - Lincoln Bartlett's pilot.
Tang-wa Jen - Nationalist General, chief of illegal Kuomintang secret police.
Wei-wei Jen - Lady friend of Ian Dunross, niece of Tang-wa Jen.
Bruce Johnjohn - Banker at Victoria's Bank.
Kin Min-ta - Head of Werewolves criminal gang.
Kin Sop-ming - Member of Werewolves criminal gang.
Koronski - Soviet chemical interrogations expert.
Richard Kwang - Head of Ho-Pak bank, nephew of Four Finger Wu.
Mona Leung - Quillan Gornt's mistress.
Tom Leung - Dunross' chief jockey.
Duncan MacIver - Helicopter pilot.
David MacStruan - Distant cousin of Dunross, head of Struan's Canadian operations.
Mary Li
Ming-Li - John Chen's mistress.
Fleur Marlowe - Wife of Peter Marlowe.
Peter Marlowe - Novelist, based on Clavell himself. Featured prominently in Clavell's previous book, King Rat.
Lando Mata - Macao's gambling and gold syndicate boss.
Donald McBride - Steward of the Turf Club.
Dr. Meng - Forensic pathologist and communist sympathizer.
Dimitri Metkin - Russian sailor and spy.
John Mishauer - U.S. Navy intelligence officer.
Kelly O'Gorman - O'Gorman was Hag Struan's grandson through her daughter Rose. When Hag was apparently on her death bed, O'Gorman tried to force her to hand over all powers of the tai-pan to her. When he brought her to a safe to retrieve the corporate seal-chop, she instead retrieved a loaded pistol and shot him dead.
Bill O'Rourke - Lincoln Bartlett's co-pilot.
Manuel Perriera - Librarian.
Jason Plumm - He a tai-pan of Asian Properties, an ally of Quillan Gornt and a lifelong enemy of Struan's and Ian Dunross. He is also secretly a descendant of Tyler Brock.
Afternoon Pok - Waiter at Victoria and Albert Hotel.
Jenny Pollard - Lincoln Bartlett's air hostess.
Goodweather Poon - Smuggler.
Venus Poon - Actress and Richard Kwang's mistress.
Marty Povits - CIA agent.
Richard Hamilton Pugmire - Tai-pan of H.K. General Stores.
Orlanda Ramos - Former mistress, assistant to Quillan Gornt.
Stanley Rosemont - CIA officer.
Edward Sinders - Head of MI-6.
Donald C.C. Smyth - Corrupt police inspector.
Ishwar Soorjani - Indian moneylender and stockbroker.
Joseph Stern - Quillan Gornt's Stockbroker.
Alastair Struan - Ninth tai-pan, born 1900.
Linbar Struan - Member of Struan's inner court.
Gregor Suslev - Captain of Soviet spy ship, KGB Colonel. He flees from Hong Kong after a natural disaster, leading Roger Crosse to believe him dead.
Sven Svensen - Lincoln Bartlett's plane steward.
Ah Tam - Old refugee woman who works with street criminals.
Pockmark Tang - Smuggler.
Tang-po - Police sergeant, Dragon of triad controlling street gambling.
Shitee T'Chung - Business leader, descendant of Dirk Struan through May-may.
Hiro Toda - Japanese shipping magnate.
Tok-toh Tip - Chinese presumed to work for Bank of China.
Alexi Travkin - Russian noble in exile, Dunross' trainer.
Tsu-yun - Chinese businessman, thorium smuggler.
Zeppelin Tung - Son of Tightfist Tung.
Igor Voranski - Russian sailor, actually Major Yuri Bakyan of the KGB.
P.B. White - Mysterious bank executive and Struan ally.
Sandra Yi - Ian Dunross' personal secretary.
Mary Yok - Richard Kwang's niece and secretary.