Weina Dai RandelRezensionen

#ReadAroundTheWorld. #China

This is an historical fiction set in Shanghai in 1940, by Chinese author Weina Dai Randel, who moved to the US in her early twenties.

Aiyi Shao, the daughter of a wealthy Chinese family, owns and runs a nightclub in Shanghai. Under Japanese occupation, things become increasingly difficult and dangerous. When Aiyi hires jazz pianist Ernest Reismann, a Jewish refugee from Germany, she goes against family and tradition. Reismann’s jazz piano however, brings great popularity to her club and Aiyi finds herself attracted to both his persona and music.

The story does become somewhat dramatic in the second half with some improbable events. Aiyi is a strong woman, but her selfish focus on money and business does make you want to shake her at times. There is a second framing story set in 1980 when Aiyi tells her story to a documentarian, with some more improbable events. I can’t help but think that it would make a great movie though.

I enjoyed the insights given into Shanghai during the Japanese occupation, and the fear and uncertainty of these times. I learnt that Shanghai was initially a refuge for Jews during WW2 with around 20,000 settling there from 1938 to 1941. Later in the war, after increasing pressure from the Nazis, the Japanese rounded up the 15,000 Jews left in Shanghai, and placed them in a ghetto in Tilanqiao. This was a pleasant enough read and I’m happy to have read it. 3.5 stars½

The fictionalized account of diplomat Dr. Ho Fengshan, Senior Counsel at the Chinese Ambassador's Office stationed in Vienna 1936-1940. He was responsible for issuing 7000+ passports for Jews to China. He was designated Righteous of the Nations in 2006. 375 pages½

Fictionalized account of a story based on a real Chinese diplomat and events that occurred in Vienna as the world headed into World War II.

FROM AMAZON: a profoundly moving novel about a diplomatic couple who risked their lives to help Viennese Jews escape the Nazis, inspired by the true story of Dr. Ho Fengshan, Righteous Among the Nations.

1938. Dr. Ho Fengshan, consul general of China, is posted in Vienna with his American wife, Grace. Shy and ill at ease with the societal obligations of diplomats’ wives, Grace is an outsider in a city beginning to feel the sweep of the Nazi dragnet. When Grace forms a friendship with her Jewish tutor, Lola Schnitzler, Dr. Ho requests that Grace keep her distance. His instructions are to maintain amicable relations with the Third Reich, and he and Grace are already under their vigilant eye.

But when Lola’s family is subjugated to a brutal pogrom, Dr. Ho decides to issue them visas to Shanghai. As violence against the Jews escalates after Kristallnacht and threats mount, Dr. Ho must issue thousands more to help Jews escape Vienna before World War II explodes.

Inspired by a remarkable true story, Night Angels explores the risks brave souls took and the love and friendship they built and lost while fighting against incalculable evil.

It amazes me that after all these years, all the stories that keep being told about the horror that was inspired by one leader's never ending hate, we can still find people who want to deny and reintroduce it. I pray for all that reason will prevail in the end.

This is another must read book.

FROM AMAZON: a profoundly moving novel about a diplomatic couple who risked their lives to help Viennese Jews escape the Nazis, inspired by the true story of Dr. Ho Fengshan, Righteous Among the Nations.

1938. Dr. Ho Fengshan, consul general of China, is posted in Vienna with his American wife, Grace. Shy and ill at ease with the societal obligations of diplomats’ wives, Grace is an outsider in a city beginning to feel the sweep of the Nazi dragnet. When Grace forms a friendship with her Jewish tutor, Lola Schnitzler, Dr. Ho requests that Grace keep her distance. His instructions are to maintain amicable relations with the Third Reich, and he and Grace are already under their vigilant eye.

But when Lola’s family is subjugated to a brutal pogrom, Dr. Ho decides to issue them visas to Shanghai. As violence against the Jews escalates after Kristallnacht and threats mount, Dr. Ho must issue thousands more to help Jews escape Vienna before World War II explodes.

Inspired by a remarkable true story, Night Angels explores the risks brave souls took and the love and friendship they built and lost while fighting against incalculable evil.

I have to come clean and say this is not a book I would have ordinarily read, but the time period it was set in had me curious and the setting was one I'd never considered reading about in that era.The writing was concise and the characters well built; some of the scenes described written so well it made my stomach lurch.

If you are interested in WWII I recommend this book as a different perspective on that time.

The Chinese consulate for Austria at the start of WWII has to choose between his career, family and the lives of the Austrian Jews. In saving thousands of Jews through issuing visas he loses his career and his marriage. His wife Grace, an American he met while in university in the US, also grows up from a quiet, innocent, introvert, to a person ready to standup and fight for her Jewish friend and her Chinese stepson. Grace still was self-centered to the point of selfish, she did eventually realize, albeit too late for her friend, that there was more to her life than just herself. The book told a story of how the atrocities of hate and war can be so devastating. A good read.½

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got a copy of this book through Amazon First Reads.

Thoughts: I enjoyed the unique setting for this book but thought the writing was a bit awkward and the story was just so-so. This book takes place during WWII in Shanghai. It follows a young heiress named Aiyi who owns her own nightclub and a Jewish refugee named Ernest who ends up playing the piano at her club. They end up falling in love but get caught up in all the politics and war of the time.

Both Ernest and Aiyi aren't all that likable. Ernest is strangely selfish and doesn't really take his sister's needs into account. Aiyi wants to be successful and is selfish as well. To be fair, to survive in this time it seems like you had to be selfish. I did like that Aiyi was a business owner and tried to stand up for herself as a woman, but she also let a lot of the men in her life force her into bad situations. I didn't really like either of them and felt like their romance was quick and forced. I don't think it helped that the dialogue throughout felt stilted and awkward to me.

The story starts in the present and then goes back to the past and then ends in the present. It ends up tying together decently but I found parts, especially in the second half, to be a bit boring and hard to stay engaged in. This feels odd for me to say with all the death and torture going in the background, but we spent a lot of the book just kind of waiting and I struggled to stay interested.

I did greatly enjoy the unique historical setting and learning about the events in Shanghai in WWII. I knew that the Japanese had invaded Shanghai but wasn't aware of all the other international pressures in Shanghai at the time. I also had not realized that Shanghai was such a huge refuge for Jews fleeing Europe. I really enjoyed getting a look into the effects of WWII on a region of the world that you don't often get to read about during that time frame.

My Summary (3/5): Overall this was okay; I really liked learning about Shanghai and the events that took place there during WWII. I didn't enjoy the awkward writing and dialogue, the unlikable characters, and the winding somewhat pointless plot. While I am happy to have learned more about Shanghai in this historical time, I don't plan on picking up anymore books by this author.

I'm in tears!

I thoroughly enjoyed the story, and learning about this particular aspect of the atrocities committed in Vienna just prior to the second world war. However, the last two pages were the best part! Life can go on. Struggles can be overcome.

By reading this book I've learned of another hero who saved the lives of many Jewish people.
Ho Fengshan has just been made Consul general in Vienna for China. It's 1938 and life is getting very tough for Jewish people. Grace his wife becomes friends with Lola her tutor who herself is Jewish but neither of them could ever imagine where it would end.
At first Dr Ho tells his wife to keep away from Lola as his brief is to keep a good relationship between China and Germany.
In time though this can't be continued and so Dr Ho begins to try and find a way to save as many Jews as he can
This story really draws in the reader to the horrors experienced by many and although a fictional account the accounts described were all too real
Grace herself is a quiet shy individual also struggling to connect with her stepson Monto with little success.
We also meet the notorious Eichmann who was feared by all Jewish people and Dr Ho has several encounters with him.
We can of course never know precisely how events panned out but one thing we know is that Dr Ho was named Righteous among the nations for the work he did.

Night Angels is Weina Dao Randel's 4th novel. She wrote the Empress of Bright Moon duopoly that many historical fiction fans loved. In her newest novel, Randel writes about a diplomatic couple who are risking their lives to help Jews in Vienna escape the Nazis. It is inspired by the true story of Dr. Ho Fengshan.

The publisher's summary:

1938. Dr. Ho Fengshan, consul general of China, is posted in Vienna with his American wife, Grace. Shy and ill at ease with the societal obligations of diplomats’ wives, Grace is an outsider in a city beginning to feel the sweep of the Nazi dragnet. When Grace forms a friendship with her Jewish tutor, Lola Schnitzler, Dr. Ho requests that Grace keep her distance. His instructions are to maintain amicable relations with the Third Reich, and he and Grace are already under their vigilant eye.

But when Lola’s family is subjugated to a brutal pogrom, Dr. Ho decides to issue them visas to Shanghai. As violence against the Jews escalates after Kristallnacht and threats mount, Dr. Ho must issue thousands more to help Jews escape Vienna before World War II explodes.

Night Angels is a gripping historical fiction novel that grabs your attention from the first page. I found myself rooting for Fengshan as he faced mounting pressure to stop issuing visas. He endured threats to his and his family's physical safety from Adolph Eichmann and his superiors in China. His career in the Republic of China diplomatic corps was also threatened. Fengshan, a Christian, became more emboldened with each threat. As these threats became more intense, Fengshan knew that it was his mission in life to save as many Jews as possible from the Nazis. In the end, he did not care what he had to endure from the Nazis.

Not much is said about Fengshan's faith. The author only tells us that he is a member of the Lutheran Church. However, we never see him going to church. Perhaps the churches were closed by this time period of 1938 to 1940. The author does not tell us. The reader sees Fengsham driving by his church to look at it when he is overwhelmed. He is initially prompted by his wife Grace to save her friend Lola by giving her a visa. Fengshan does not want to do this because his bosses are against angering the Nazis. China needs weapons from Germany in order to fight the Japanese who were occupying China. He is unable to ignore his wife's pleas and with each visa that he processes, Fengshan feels easier about what he is doing.

I loved reading about this little known part of WWII history. The twist of foreign diplomats dealing with the Nazi regime is a new one for WWII fiction. It gives us a fresh perspective on how foreign countries, non-Allies that is, dealt with Germany during the war.

Night Angels is a must read!

A novel inspired by the true story of Dr. Ho who was hailed as "the Chinese Schindler".

I've read many books about World War II but this is the first book that I've read about the bravery of a Chinese diplomat and his American wife who defied orders from the Chinese government and wrote visas that helped thousands of Jewish people get out of Austria to safety in China and other countries.

1938 - Dr. Ho Fengshan, consul general of China, is posted in Vienna with his American wife, Grace. Grace is very introverted and feels like an outsider. At her husband's urging, she decides to hire a tutor to teach her German. The day that she interviews Lola, they end up in trouble for sitting on a park bench - something that Jewish people were no longer allowed to do in occupied Austria. Grace and Lola become friends despite Dr. Ho's request that Grace keep her distance from Lola and her Jewish family. Grace may be a quiet woman but when she made up her mind, nothing and no one will deter her from moving ahead. When Lola's family becomes a part of the cruelty that is being shown to the Jewish people, Grace is upset and Dr. Ho decides to give the family a visa to leave for Shanghai. As the violence becomes part of everyday life in Vienna, Dr Ho decided to write thousands of visa's for people to escape from Austria - either to Shanghai or to other countries that still had open borders to accept the Jews. Dr Ho defied his direct supervisor and also had to deal with the cruelty of the German leaders in Austria. Dr Ho and his wife Grace were true humanitarians who worried about the plight of others more than their own safety. This book is an emotional look at a brave man and woman who have been forgotten over the years who risked their lives to help others.

In a little-known part of the Holocaust, a Chinese diplomat facilitated the rescue of thousands of Jews from Vienna, Austria, by using his visa-writing powers. They were sent to, of all places, Shanghai during the Japanese invasion of China. (Of course, a war zone is much safer than the overzealous rage of Hitler.) As described in the Author’s Note, this Chinese diplomat, named Ho Fengshan, was not recognized until after his death in the late twentieth century. In this work of historical fiction, Dai Randel imagines what this hero would be like. In so doing, she invents several characters and a narrative to support the historical record, replete with some intrigue and some heartache.

This book has many tragic elements to it. Even in a courageous rescue, the bittersweetness of life is seen. The story is told from the first-person perspective of Fengshan’s fictionalized second wife along with two other third-person accounts. Grace hopes to start a family in Vienna with this eminent Chinese leader, but becomes outraged by the fall of the surrounding society. She gets involved in relationships with Jewish individuals, who are persecuted and tormented by despicable Nazi henchmen.

Kristalnacht is vividly portrayed here along with the capriciousness of Nazi hate. I’ve read over a dozen works on the Holocaust, but none of those brought out the Jewish plight quite in the way that Dai Randel does here. She brings out this oppression in everyday details of relationships that’s, well, unique. Certain Germans just took every opportunity to pick on the Jews however they could, to the extreme of killing thousands. It makes me think of anti-immigrant fervor in today’s world.

Fortunately, Fengshan and Grace mutually support each other’s compassion. They sacrifice much to the cause. Of course, their personal lives do not cease just because Hitler’s forces are taking over central Europe. Even though successful in saving thousands, they always have the haunting memory that they could have saved more. They sacrificed their futures for these people. As in her prior novel, Dai Randel highlights this little-known Jewish community is southeastern China. I’m grateful to learn that the Diaspora even reaches there.

Those interested in the Holocaust will find a unique perspective in Dai Randel’s books. New aspects to a seemingly depthless tragedy are elucidated through her storytelling. The saying goes that excellence is doing common things in an uncommon manner; this book certainly achieves that and more. I’m grateful to have read it and to ponder its relevance to world history and my life in America today.

In this novel a woman in her sixties sitting in a wheelchair in a luxury hotel tells her story. It begins when she inherited a popular Shanghai nightclub from her wealthy father in the late 1930s. She tells what that did to family and personal relationships. How she fell in love with a Jewish refugee she hired as a piano player and how dangerous such a thing was during the war. What it was like to live in Shanghai after it took in 20,000 Jewish refugees, and what is was like when the Japanese occupied it. And she tells about those that helped her and those that hurt her through the war.

She answers our questions about what happened after the war too. She tells what happaned to the cousin to whom she was bethrothed as a child. She lets us know how her love story with the Jewish refugee played out. She mentions being a billionaire now although during the war she lost everything.

I hadn't heard of this book, published in 2021, until Tess reviewed it. Amazon shows 27,336 ratings with 53% being 5 stars. I rated it lower because even though I could belive all of the above(!) I thought the last few chapters were rushed, a bit tangled and the end unbelievable. Still, I throughly enjoyed reading it.½

I'm a huge fan if historical fiction and Chinese history so was so excited to get my hands on [b:The Moon in the Palace|25577005|The Moon in the Palace (Empress of Bright Moon, #1)|Weina Dai Randel|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1445892524s/25577005.jpg|45378440].

I tore through the story but unfortunately the character development fell flat for me. I found myself reading as quickly as possible in the hopes that I would establish some sort of connection with Mei. Although I'm left feeling underwhelmed, I am still interested enough to seek out the the second volume of the duology!

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

I loved this star crossed lovers historical romance. everything from the characters to the environment seemed very authentic and well thought out. the only reason I scored it 4 stars was because the storyline seemed very rushed in the end, other than that a very entertaining read.

Good historical fiction of the Japanese invasion of China during WWII mixed with a romance. While predictable, still a good read. 429 pages

The Last Rose of Shanghai was an enchanting read. Beginning in 1940 our heroine Aiyi Shao is an 18 year old heiress and the owner of an unpopular Shanghai nightclub. She soon meets a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, Ernest Reismann, and asks him to work for her playing the piano in her club. He agrees and the club gains alot of new customers who want to hear him play jazz on the stride piano. Aiyi and Ernest are attracted to each other and although Aiyi is engaged to childhood friend Cheng, she meets him in the room he is renting. Almost immediately they fall into bed. Ernest becomes famous in Shanghai and is sought after by several other club owners. However, the war in Europe, the South Pacific and the Japanese occupation of China keep tearing the two of them apart. Ernest is wanted by the Japanese for killing a Japanese soldier and the soldier investigating the killing has threatened to shut down Aiyi's club if she does not tell him where Ernest can be found. His fate is bound up in Aiyi's handling of the matter. However, the war continues to escalate and their choices between love and survival become more desperate.

I love that we now have a WWII story that takes place in China. The Japanese occupation of China is the prominent war story and I learned alot about how that affected people of that time and place. In addition, the racism of the Asians toward the white Europeans is also prominent and is shown in detail. The Asians had different feelings toward the Americans and British but generally did not trust either of them. The cultural restrictions on Aiyi demanded that she marry the man her parents betrothed her to when she was a baby. Cheng was the typical domineering male but, in contrast, Ernest was sensitive to the needs of others.

Ms. Randel is a fantastic writer. All 3 of her books were engrossing. I always appreciate it when a historical author shines a light on a not well known history. Randel shows us the horrors of the starving poor in Shanghai amidst the glamour of luxury hotels, nightclubs and family compounds. Soldiers from several countries are present everywhere and add to the unease of the city. Last Rose is told from two different points of view, Aiyi's and Ernest's. It also has an alternating plot from the current era where we read about a documentarian interviewing Aiyi about this time period. This plot has very little space in the novel though. It is 90% about WWII.

The Last Rose of Shanghai is an excellent read and I highly recommend it to all readers. It could very be in my top ten books of 2022. 5 out of 5 stars.

In China's long history, Wu Zetian is the only female emperor and this book is about her incredible, unlikely climb to emperor.

The author, Weina, does a masterful job of transporting the reader to 7th century China. It's a world of court intrigue with lots of bloody betrayals.

This is the first of a duology and I look forward to the next book.

Did you know there was just one woman who ever led China? This is the second book of a duology of Empress Wu's rise to become Empress of China.

Lots and lots of court intrigue and with good dose of romance, this book moves along as we watch the future empress rise. Also we get to see her husband's rise to become a real emperor, rather than just one in name only.

I am rather disappointed the book ends here. She becomes the empress of China at the end of the book. It would be years later when her husband dies and she becomes the true leader of China. History has certainly not been kind to Wu Zetian and I'm grateful to see another take on her life.

I do think the author put a really big heroic spin on Wu Zetian's life. Rising to become empress of China is messy business. And a quick look through Wikipedia yields some dastardly deeds on her part.

It was on my phone and I had to spend a lot of time in places waiting for things to happen. That’s my excuse. I thought at least I would learn some Chinese history, but not much really. Just a series of downs, few ups and finally the protagonist becomes the Empress of China. Done.

The genre of historical fiction is as well-known for romances as it is for stories set in World War II. This book takes those simple premises but upends them by adding so much more to produce a beautiful product of art. Its setting – Shanghai, China, during the war – is unusual as are its main protagonists, a Chinese businesswoman and a Jewish refugee. Apparently, Shanghai, long-known for its prowess as an international business culture, housed many Jewish refugees who fled from German-occupied Europe. This book brings their under-reported stories to life by weaving them into this complex tale.

About halfway through the book, I thought that this was just going to be another superficial romance. How wrong I was! In the remaining 200 pages, Randel spins yarn of so deep and lasting flavor that it reminds us of the profound power of human love despite the profound disturbances of war. Onto the canvas of war and romance, she paints integrated themes of family, of inter-cultural peace, and of undying hope. The enduring strength of love despite hardships and differences is, of course, also on display.

This book starts simply and innocently enough. In pre-war Shanghai, the Jewish refugee falls in love with a Chinese businesswoman, who is already engaged to another Chinese man. As a non-linear temporal backdrop, the Chinese businesswoman is telling this story to a film-maker in a hotel in Shanghai in 1980. But then human interactions take over and torque this tale right until the end. Whenever a new climax and denouement have been met, heightened action soon supersedes by a new sub-plot.

To be frank, this book’s unending drama left me more exhausted than a family Thanksgiving dinner gone wrong. It was simultaneously hard to put down, but thoroughly exhausting to continue. The amount of turmoil was almost incredulous even though all of the plot’s components seemed sensible enough.

This book brings the plight of the Jewish community in Shanghai to light, a historical narrative that I was not aware of. I hope this book will be translated into Chinese to reach a broader audience. This book will inspire many readers by its faith in human love despite a myriad of hardships. For some reason, novels about World War II continue to fill Western-language bookshelves, and this book will certainly add to that list.

I really enjoyed this book! Following Mei from her childhood into the palace of the Emperor and watching her learn who to trust and how to rely on her wiles and her heart to move forward was fun and interesting. I also learned a lot about China’s Tang dynasty that I never knew before. I'm looking forward to reading the next book, Empress of Bright Moon!

I read lots of World War II books but most of them are about the war in Europe and the reprehensible actions of the German troops. This book is about life in Shangri during the Japanese invasion. It gave a unique look at how badly the Japanese soldiers treated people during the occupation of China. It's a dual time line book taking place in the 1940s and 1980. The timeline during the war is told by Aiyi and Ernest and the 1960s timeline is told by told by Aiyi Shao .

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. Her family has already picked out a husband for her but she has no intention of getting married and giving up her life and her job even though it was very much against the customs in Shangri where the major goal for women was getting married and having babies. In January of 1940, her club is running out of liquor and she is losing business. She meets Ernest when he helps her escape from some thugs who wanted to punish her for her race. Ernest is a German Jew who has come to Shangri with his younger sister to avoid the persecution of Jewish people in Germany. He used the last of his money to buy tickets on the ship and is hoping that their parents will be arriving soon from Germany. As soon as he gets off the boat, he starts looking for a job because gets turned down everywhere because he's a refugee. He eventually finds work as a piano player at Aiya's club and his talent makes it one of the famous clubs in town.. When she hires him, she is defying customs - there was much prejudice between the Chinese and the white people in the city. The more time they spend together - the more their feelings for each other grow. As the war escalates, they find themselves torn apart and the decisions they need to make will affect both of them for the rest of their lives. Will their love be strong enough to help them overcome the prejudice in Shangri and the war that is becoming part of their everyday lives?

This was a beautifully written novel and it was apparent that the author did significant research. The two main characters were so well written that I felt their pain during the war and their happiness at being together. I learned a lot about the war in China and the treatment of the Chinese by the Japanese soldiers. This is a beautiful story about the pain and sorrow of the war but the overall feeling is one of love and redemption.

I RECEIVED AN ADVANCE COPY OF THIS BOOK.

This novel was captivating in its richness and writing style. The author did a fantastic job of making the story come to life. Every little detail was accounted for, from the types of food that was eaten, to the customs and intricacies of court life. It really set the stage for the events that transpired in the book. I love reading about politics and hierarchies that exist within kingdoms, and this novel definitely did not disappoint in that aspect. There was always something intriguing going on, and this book kept me on my toes; I literally could not pull my eyes away. However, this novel did have its flaws. From the description of this novel, I expected Mei to be a great deal more cunning and intelligent. However, she is portrayed as extremely trusting and her ability to move up in the ranks is mostly attributed to luck and help from others. This was a disappointment to me, as I was really looking forward to seeing a battle of wits between the different concubines. There was a romance aspect in this novel that was interesting but fell a bit flat; I couldn't really believe in the love between the two characters so I didn't really care for the romance at all. While this novel gives off the impression that this book will be about Mei and her exploits, it's really more about her observing things going on in the court and also mentioning some of the near-miss situations she is involved in. I cannot say that she ever actively did anything that made me applaud her bravery or intelligence. While I cannot speak for the historical accuracy of this novel due to my lack of knowledge, I will say that this novel was extremely interesting and had me hooked from page 1 despite the negative factors. I'm probably going to read the next book in this duology; I just hope that Mei becomes a stronger and smarter character in it!

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