This action-packed true story begins as a privileged boy is born in Hong Kong. He is the son of a Danish "Taipan," whose family has links with the Far East going back generations. The book chronicles John Jessen's early life in Hong Kong and his travels throughout Asia, just before WWII broke out and one of his father's ships was captured by Chinese pirates. After the death of his young brother in the Red Sea, 9-year-old Jessen left his grandparents in Switzerland to travel alone through Hitler's Germany and on to Russia, where he boarded the Trans-Siberian Express to Manchuria. His Japanese...