Amazon.com description: Product Description: THE MESSENGER is an adventure story for teenagers set in seventh century China, when the Middle Kingdom was ruled by the tyrannical Empress Wu. A farm boy called T'ien Chi is asked to take a message from one exile to another across the breadth of Chine. The message is in the form of a shih, a song or poem, and the boy has to carry it in his head, for to write it down may lead to discovery, arrest and death. He travels on horseback and encounters brigands, corrupt officials and adverse conditions on his way.