Joan Condon

Shanghai Venture Joan Condon

The story takes place on the China coast during World War II. A freighter, sailing offshore under the Panamanian flag and laden with war materiel, intercepts the stunning news of Pearl Harbor. The two young American officers, Captain Henry Budrow and Third Mate David Kopel, are shocked to find themselves in enemy waters. This is the saga of their wartime exploits: a sea battle for the cargo, their capture, the Captain's imprisonment and David's internment in Shanghai. With odds against them, they escape, plan and execute a series of fiery attacks upon Japanese military targets. It is also the story of Kate, a lovely and spirited young English girl who, torn from her reception desk at the British Embassy, is forced to live out the long war years in the internment camp. Kate and a thousand fellow Allied prisoners face their long ordeal with courage and endurance. The two men compete for Kate's affections, carry out their strikes against the Japanese with ingenuity and daring. Their final stratagem: a spy mission into Japanese waters on a Chinese junk, is thwarted by Fat Man, the second atom bomb, dropped on Nagasaki.