It's A Battlefield

Dec 9, 2025 6:54 AM

Author:Graham Greene

It's A Battlefield

Drover, a Communist bus driver, is in prison, sentenced to death for killing a policeman during a riot at Hyde Park Corner. A battle for a reprieve with many participants ensues: the Assistant Commissioner, high-principled and over-worked; Conrad, a paranoid clerk; Mr Surrogate, a rich Fabian; Condor, a pathetic journalist feeding on fantasies; pretty, promiscuous Kay - all have a part to play in his fate.

Reviews

Though art and politics figure in the action, In the Pond is first and foremost a comedy - naughty, lusty, raucously entertaining. Ha Jin's language echoes working-class Chinese at its rough, bawdy best

—— New York Times Book Review

Fascinating...spare and taut... A fable about morality and power

—— Chicago Tribune

Ha Jin captures the particularities of life in China, yet we recognise his characters intimately. The 'otherness' of this most foreign nation falls away as one vividly drawn human after another takes flesh on the page

—— Boston Globe

Fascinating, refreshing and uncommonly subtle: Ha Jin has made China available to a new world and a world of new readers

—— Kirkus Reviews

A compelling exploration of the terrain that is the human heart... an all too rare reminder of the reasons why someone might feel so strongly about a book

—— New York Times

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