Everything Under the Heavens

Raised in a prosperous family of 14th century Chinese merchants, Wu Johanna has grown up on camelback, in bustling city marketplaces, and in the cool, shaded depths of Silk Road caravanserai. Hers is a world of spice merchants and pearl divers, bandits and troubadours, servants and sheikhs. A world in which trust is more valuable than gold, and the right name can unlock a network of contacts from Japan to North Africa. Johanna is, after all, the granddaughter of Marco Polo.
In the wake of her father’s death, however, Johanna finds that lineage counts for little amid the disintegrating court of the Khan. Dynastic loyalties are shifting, petty jealousies lead to cold-blooded murders, and the long knives are coming out. If Johanna is to find a future for herself, she’ll have to rely on her wits, the vagaries of fortune, and a close-knit circle of friends and traveling companions. Her destiny if she has one lies more than a continent away, at the very edge of the known world.
"HE WAS KEPT WAITING not even an hour. As a mark of special favor, not lost on the others waiting on their own audiences in the cramped anteroom, Bayan’s own personal aide came to escort him into the general’s presence. They had travelled the Road together half a dozen times and Marco knew him well. “Dayir!” They gripped each other’s arms. “What’s this I hear? A father, no less, and of a hearty son! Congratulations!” Dayir, a short, muscular man near Marco’s own age, had a wide, engaging grin. He gave his head a rueful shake. “Hearty is the word, I fear. He has a temper. My wife says he has his nurse terrorized.” Marco laughed. “He is a warrior already. What have you named him?” “Ogodei.”