"Imaginary conversations between Marco Polo and his host, the Chinese ruler Kublai Khan, conjure up cities of magical times."--Publisher description at http://www.loc.gov/catdir/description/har041/77016002.html.
Tells the story of the rise of Kublai Khan to take over his grandfather Genghis Khan's empire, as well as China, in a novel that focuses on the brutal competition between Kublai and his three brothers.
Draws on the author's own parallel journey and new evidence to retraces the steps of the medieval Italian merchant who traveled from Venice, through the Middle East and Central Asia, to China and Xanadu, the summer capital of Kublai Khan.
In thirteenth-century China, after trying to save his widowed mother from a horrendous second marriage, twelve-year-old Haoyou has life-changing adventures when he takes to the sky as a circus kite rider and ends up meeting the great Mongol ruler Kublai Khan.