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The author of the $10,000 Atlantic Prize Novel Peking Picnic-- one of the big successes of 1932-- has again chosen China for the setting of her story.Amber Harrison wanted to get away from England and a shattered romance. An invitation from her uncle in Peking offered the opportunity, and the Grant-Howard family, just assigned to the embassy in Peking, offered escort on the long P. & O. voyage. In Peking, Amber was thrown into the middle of Chino-European society, diplomatic and commercial-- people who worked harder at their pastimes than at their desks. Horses, racing, steeplechasing, furnished the chief interests. Outside the compound with its cocktail parties and flirtations lay the China of old with its exquiste temples, its russet plains and a people whose endurance was superior to famine and banditry."Most girls leave Peking engaged, generally to the wrong man, and nearly all women leave it with a broken heart." Amber's curiosity led her into dangerous places. She explored the Temple of Heaven, and she also explored-- though unwittingly-- the secret places in the affections of three diplomats.