The Pekingese Exodus is a 23,100-word historical travel comedy novella set during the 1860 Anglo-French campaign in China. Five imperial Pekingese—sacred dogs of a fallen dynasty—are rescued from a dead princess's villa and must be transported to Queen Victoria herself. What follows is a chaotic voyage across storm-tossed seas with three hapless British officers who have no idea what they have signed up for. Think maritime misadventure, dog-induced mayhem, and a touch of slow-burn romance, all wrapped in rich historical Chinese detail.

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Captain Alistair Finch has spent two years fighting a war he no longer believes in. Then he walks into a dead princess's villa and finds five starving Pekingese guarding her body—and somehow, impossibly, he becomes their guardian.

He has no idea what he is doing.

Neither do Lord Hay, a collector who treats dogs like porcelain, or Surgeon-Major Pettigrew, a gruff doctor who insists he is above all this nonsense and yet keeps checking on the brindle one.

General Grant wants the white dog, Meizhu, as a gift for Queen Victoria. Suddenly Finch's career, his promotion, and his chance of marrying Lady Eleanor Throckmorton all depend on five impossibly demanding dogs who have never been told no. What follows is a voyage of disasters: a typhoon that terrifies the smallest dog into hiding, a scurvy crisis that nearly kills the gourmand, a rat infestation solved by the grumpiest Pekingese in existence, a stolen captain's cap, a tangle of signal flags that accidentally insults an entire nation, and one dog who vanishes in Cape Town only to be found nesting in a bolt of silk.

Through it all, Finch writes to Eleanor. His letters grow longer. More honest. More afraid. He tells her he is no longer the man who left her. He doesn’t know if she’ll still want the man who returns.

And when he finally stands before her, filthy and exhausted with five muddy dogs and two equally muddled friends, she doesn’t recoil. She rolls up her sleeves.

But the Queen is waiting. And Meizhu has never bowed to anyone in her life.

Can five spoiled imperial dogs charm the grieving Queen of England? Will Finch survive the ratting officer's newfound fame? And when Eleanor asks if he is happy, will he finally understand what he has been fighting for all along?

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This novella is pure joy for readers who love animal companions with outrageous personalities, historical settings rich with sensory detail, and comedy that arises naturally from chaos. Meizhu's imperial disdain. Baoyun's rooftop heists. Shizi's hunger strikes. Weifu's joyful disasters. Zhiyuan's furious dedication to duty. They will make you laugh, groan, and cheer. Perfect for fans of travel misadventure, found family, and slow-burn romance woven through dog-induced mayhem, this is the historical comedy you didn’t know you needed. Climb aboard. The Pekingese are waiting!

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