She included a list of further reading at the end of the book to learn more about Shanghai during WWII, and I will definitely be adding some of them to my TBR list! I enjoyed watching her negotiate with the powerful Jewish magnate Sassoon, and seeing her outwit Japanese soldiers and her domineering oldest brother, all to hold on to the business she’d worked so hard to build.

10 books about Old Shanghai | Books | The Guardian Top 10 books about Old Shanghai | Books | The Guardian

And I like them well enough; I enjoy historical fiction, and losing myself in a different place and time. Hahn herself spent much of her sojourn in Shanghai living close by a street frequented by American “streetwalkers” not unlike her protagonist. I liked it though- gotta admit there were some times I didn’t want to put it down, mostly because the characters were well developed and I was invested in them. The love story aspect began to feel a bit episodic after a while, when just as things seem headed for a happy resolution, something new happens that keeps them apart again.The ending to this plot line, with the big reveal in the final few chapters, was satisfying, though I wish there had been more of an emotional payoff. However, our main villain, the all-too-sterotypical Japanese military bully, Yamizake, has no way to locate Ernest who hides in plain sight.

The Last Rose of Shanghai - Historical Novel Society

The story comes to us from the first person perspective of Aiyi and the third person perspective of Ernest, with brief interludes from Aiyi in 1980. The plot could have been interesting, but I could not stomach the bland writing for over 400 pages and quit torturing myself at page 255. When she hires him, she is defying customs - there was much prejudice between the Chinese and the white people in the city. The deprivation, starvation, fear and hopelessness, as well as inner strength of ordinary citizens, is overwhelming and humbling.After Ernest gives Aiyi an audition playing her favorite song, “The Last Rose of Shanghai,” she takes a chance in hiring him, hoping her patrons will overlook who he is and allow his piano to enthrall and entertain. Another WWII historical fiction book, but this story is set in Shanghai, under Japanese occupation, which provided a haven for Jews fleeing the Nazis.

The Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel | Goodreads

And while the obstacles between them did get a bit much towards the end (a scene featuring a tank stretched the limits of even my suspension of disbelief), I do like how the core reasons they couldn’t be together were very true to their characters’ unique circumstances. Weina's latest novel, Night Angels, features an introverted biracial American woman from Boston and a compassionate diplomat who saved thousands of Jews by issuing them visas to Shanghai. The writing was descriptive and fairly easy reading and I enjoyed the descriptions of Shanghai of that era. The undoubted glamour of Shanghai’s modernist aesthetic is seductive and lends a romantic appeal to the city of this period, but it was also a city of endemic poverty for many and it endured constant political turmoil.While she should have been inspirational by virtue of being a successful business owner in a patriarchal world, she is shown as selfish, judgemental, and short-sighted.