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In Puccini’s by-now universal story, two star-crossed lovers, a Japanese woman and a white man, together embody Rudyard Kipling’s dictum: “East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet.”

Rudyard Kipling, England’s poet of empire, wrote, “Oh, east is east and west is west, and never the twain shall meet”, contrasting Europe and Asia, but ignoring everywhere else.

The title of this novel is inspired by the refrain of Rudyard Kipling’s “The Ballad of East and West,” a poem about divergent cultures, honor and war, first published in 1889: “Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.”

“Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,” wrote British writer Rudyard Kipling—but several Central Asian countries such as Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are aiming to become aviation hubs serving the two halves of the world.

Rudyard Kipling made the point more than a century ago: “Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.”