The Ultimate China Bookshelf #52: Austin Coate’s "City of Broken Promises"

A historical reconstruction of the years 1780 to 1795 in Macao — Published in 1976

Easy and enjoyable to read, not conceived for academic purposes, but rather for an intelligent reader who might wish to learn the most important aspects of Macao’s history. A first-time reader might well be carried away by the easy flow of the prose, the witty remarks, the elegance of the author’s style. The ease with which Austin Coates recounted even the most dramatic events, as if holding a lively conversation, demonstrates that his narrative is, in fact, an exceptional history of the city. — César Guillén Nuñez

This magnificent novel brings to vibrant life an exceptional period in the evolution of a great Asian trading city, vividly evoking the unique hybrid culture that developed there.” — David Brookshaw, Professor of Portuguese, University of Bristol and translator of The Bewitched Braid and Visions of China

This is a beautifully written novel, focusing upon a largely forgotten world of shuttered passions and tragic alliances. Martha Merop is surely one of the great characters of fiction, rising above personal tragedy in her determination to send her name into the world.” — Brian Castro, author of Shanghai Dancing and The Garden Book

Austin Coates is an author with far more expertise than others who have tried to explore the history and customs of Hong Kong and Macau. City of Broken Promises is a well-paced and intuitive look at the real-life character, Martha Merop: a lively, gripping and enjoyable tale. — Justin Hill, author of The Drink and Dream Teahouse

Author Bio:

Austin Coates (1922–1997) was a former senior British civil servant in Hong Kong, Malaya, and Sarawak. His reports to the Hong Kong government and British colonial office of conditions, customs and life in the New Territories remain classic reading of the sympathetic and engaged colonial official. Coates left government service at age 40 to pursue a professional writing career. Widely regarded as the most distinguished English-language author in Hong Kong, Coates remained a long-time resident of the British colony and frequent visitor to the nearby Portuguese colony of Macao, dividing his time between Hong Kong and Portugal, where he died. The City of Broken Promises is a companion to his two other books on Macao: A Macao Narrative and Macao and the British.