So just know, quite a lot of silly things happen in the second half, events that make no sense at all! Then there are details about Jews and Judaism that are off, like Miriam talking about being able to read from the Torah for her bat mitzvah. 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 Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel | Goodreads

Aiyi is a 20-year-old heiress who is fighting against the wishes of her parents and brothers by owning a jazz club in Shangri. They are kept apart by what felt at times convenience while having them trying to be together in Shanghai and making the best of it would have worked better. This book is my favorite kind of historical fiction – an engrossing story that also opens my eyes to a piece of history I wasn’t familiar with. It also focused on the effects Japanese-occupied Shanghai had on the Chinese inhabitants, foreigners that had made Shanghai their home and on the Jewish refugees.I listened to the audio CD of The Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel and learned so much about Shanghai’s history during World War II. The timeline during the war is told by Aiyi and Ernest and the 1960s timeline is told by Aiyi Shao and Ernest. HNS Awards have helped discover and launch the author careers of Michel Faber, Ruth Downie, Hilary Green, Martin Sutton, Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott, Nikki Marmery, Margaret Skea, Warwick Cairns, Katherine Mezzacappa and Elizabeth Macneal. Riichi spent time in Shanghai and his novel reveals the city as a melting pot of cultures, nationalities and ideas.

The Last Rose of Shanghai - Historical Novel Society

The book is the story of their rise to power and their downfall; how they thought they ruled Shanghai but found the city had other ideas.It was a powerful and poignant story with vividly drawn characters that processed great depth, complexity and believable feelings. Ernest is a German Jew who has come to Shangri with his younger sister to avoid the persecution of Jewish people in Germany. The Last Rose of Shanghai captured the little known history of the more than twenty thousand Jewish refugees that escaped the throes of the Nazis and found safety in Shanghai. She's arrogant, and the writing style at the beginning is all "telling;" Aiyi telling the reader what she looks like, how amazingly rich she is, how she loves her nightclub, etc.