The Song of the Jade Lily, by Kirsty Manning. William Morrow, 2019

In 1938, on the day that will live in history as Kristallnacht, 12 year old Romy, her brothers, and her parents try to flee Austria as Nazi troops start rounding up Jews. One brother is shot for standing up for himself; the other is captured and taken away. Romy and her parents manage to make their way to a train station; they find they cannot flee into any European countries. Their only hope of escape is a boat to Shanghai, as China is still taking in refugees. On the boat, Romy becomes friends with Nina, whose parents die on board ship. The Bernfelds want to take Nina into their own shattered family, but her uncle, who cares nothing for her, takes her away. In Shanghai, the Bernfelds become friends with the Ho family, with Romy and Li becoming fast friends. Li becomes a beautiful singer, while Romy is intellectually gifted.



In 2016, Alexandra is returning to the Australian home of her grandparents, Romy and Wilhelm. She has a broken heart, and it is about to be broken more: Wilhelm is dying. He and Romy feel it’s time for Alexandra to know something of the family history, which has been kept from her so far. She knows that her mother was adopted by Wilhelm and Romy, and that she died in a car accident when Alexandra was very young. But she knows nothing of her mother’s origins, and Romy isn’t telling her that. So she sets out on an information gathering mission…in Shanghai.



I loved reading this book. The author paints pictures of Shanghai complete with scents and flavors. It’s rich in details. Shanghai is painted as an amazing place- the Paris of the East. And it’s not just the pretty side of it; this takes place during the horrors of the Japanese Occupation. I didn’t find Alexandra’s story completely absorbing, but Romy’s story sucked me in. Told in the now common format of duel timelines and narrators, the stories fill each other in. I was able to figure out what happened before the end, but not very far before. I had never heard about Jewish refugees in China before and that fascinated me. I loved the details of life; the food, the healing methods, the grim conditions in the town and especially in the hospital where Romy works with her father in Shanghai. Diary entries and letters from the war add dimension to the tale. Manning did a lot of research to write this novel, and it shows. Five stars.

Patriot Number One, by Lauren Hilgers. Crown, 2018

The author spent six years in China, and had been back in America two years when a contact from her expatriate time phoned her suddenly, saying he would see her soon in New York. This was totally unexpected, although she knew that Zhuang Liehong and his wife, Little Yan, were hoping to escape from China and seek political asylum in the United States. Zhuang was a political activist, seeking to reform the local system in Wukan, the village where he lived. Corruption was rife, and he wanted justice for his fellow villagers.

Escape was amazingly easy- they managed to get visas to take a tour of some US cities, under the auspices of a tour guide. The hang up was that they had to leave their infant son behind, to make it look like they were coming back. But they hoped to get asylum right away and be able to send for him. They left him with family.

New life in the US was not so easy, though. Zhuang did not speak any English, and what English Little Yan knew was rusty. Hilgers went to where she had her laundry done; the woman there gave her some contacts and hints. Soon enough, the couple found that being granted asylum was neither easy nor fast. Without asylum and green cards, they cannot get above-board jobs, so making a living is difficult. Plus, at first Zhuang insists that Little Yan must work at the same place he does, so he can keep an eye on her. And when he gets over that, he goes back to political activism, which eats up a lot of his time. This story alternates with backstory, telling us how and why Zhuang became a man the government of China wanted to keep an eye on.

There are some many people that Zhuang and Little Yan interacted with that you practically need a cast of characters. The story can be confusing at times; non-fiction is rarely as smooth and even as novels are. I found the story fascinating; those of us born in the US can barely grasp what difficulties immigrants face when they come here, particularly ones seeking political asylum. Zhuang and Little Yan were lucky because they knew someone in New York, an American who could speak their language, who was willing to devote time to helping them. I recommend this book a lot; it’s highly illuminating of problems both here and in China. Four and a half stars.

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The Interior, by Lisa See. Harpertorch, 1999

 Liu Hulan is an investigator with China’s version of the FBI. Considered a “Red Princess”, she has more money and privilege beyond that of most Chinese citizens, but even so, she’s taking risks by having a white American for a lover and getting pregnant without a permit. Her lover, David Stark, is an American attorney who jumps at the chance to go into private practice when a firm offers him a posting in China and he can live with Hulan. This is following an attempt on his life and the shocking death of his friend in Los Angeles.

When an old friend contacts Hulan about the death of her adult daughter, they don’t expect it to turn into a major investigation. The death is ruled a suicide, but the mother doesn’t buy that, and clues Hulan sees tell her it was a murder. When Hulan looks into it, it leads her right to the girl’s employer- a company that is being purchased by the very firm that David is representing. More and more irregularities appear, and David feels he has to step in.

There are many, many plot strands in this story, sometimes more than I could keep track of, along with lots and lots of characters. The ‘interior’ the title refers to is the interior of China, an area almost all rural (at the time; the book is set in 1997) and extremely poor. This makes the American owned factories that have started appearing very appealing to young Chinese, especially women, who have almost no other chances for advancement. The novel exposes some of the problems that happened during that time, when there were almost no rules for foreign investors.

Legal thrillers are not normally something I read. I picked this up because I love Lisa See’s writing, both fiction and non-fiction. I enjoyed it, but didn’t feel that the characters were nearly as developed as in her historical fiction, and that she had too many different elements in the story. The detail on life in China was amazing, though, and featured an aspect of China I had read little of. Four stars. 

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The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, by Lisa See. Sime & Schuster, 2017

Li-yan and Haley live very different lives. Although both are of the Akha people, they are a generation apart: Li-yan is Haley’s mother, although they have been separated since Haley was a few days old. Haley grows up in the Los Angeles area in an upper middle class home; Li-yan grew up without plumbing or electricity. All that connects them is a cake of pu-erh tea that Li-yan left with Haley at the orphanage, and has, miraculously, stayed with her.

Li-yan starts her life in the Akha people, a small group living in the mountains between Thailand and Laos and the Yunnan district of China. Even in 1995 their lives are almost Stone Age; they have no modern conveniences, still wear traditional dress, have their medical problems dealt with by a wise woman, and abide by traditional Akha laws and superstitions. Pretty much their only contact with the 20^th century is when they sell the tea that they pick from their small allotments. Li-yan’s life seems to be set: as the daughter of the wise woman/midwife, she will step up to that job when her time comes.

Three things change Li-yan’s life forever. She is very good with languages and is sent on to college, where she first encounters a flush toilet. She has the misfortune of falling in love with the wrong man; she was born on a Pig Day, while San-pa is born on a Tiger Day. They are mismatched and cannot wed- but they secretly have a child together. And one day a jeep comes rattling into the village bearing a man who wants to buy their tea directly rather than going through the middleman. He knows they have special teas, from special, old trees, that will be worth a fortune on the open market. All these things combine to end up making Li-yan a woman of both China and America.

Lisa See has dealt with Chinese women coming to terms with being in America in ‘China Dolls’; in that book, it was WW 2. ‘Tea Girl’ deals with it in 1995 to the present day. The children adopted by white Americans (almost always girls) face different challenges growing up than the Chinese who arrived as adults in earlier years- easier in a lot of ways, but not knowing why they were given up and what kind of linage they might have.

The plotting is so complex in this book it can be hard to keep track of, but it all comes together in the end perfectly. The descriptions of life in the forest village bring the place to life. Li-yan is a very complex character and the others are pretty vivid, too, especially Li-yan’s mother. Five stars out of five- not surprising for a book by Lisa See!

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Dragon Springs Road, by Janie Chang. William Morrow, 2017

Seven year old Jialing is not worried at first when her mother leaves her alone in their home, telling her she’ll be back in three days. It’s far from the first time her mother has left her alone for a few days, when she goes to spend time with Noble Uncle. Jialing is pretty safe; a resident Fox spirit looks after her when her mother is gone. But this time her mother doesn’t come back. When new people move into the main house, Fox tells her to step out of hiding and speak to the new girl who is out in the yard. She finds herself taken in by Grandmother Yang as a bond servant, a person who can purchase their freedom. By luck, she gets to go to school and learn English. But still not much is hoped for her. She is zazhong- half white. She will be welcomed by neither whites nor Chinese.

The tale starts in 1908 and goes to 1920. In that short time, Jialing goes through many changes, as does China. She tries for jobs, she searches for her long missing mother, she learns the true social cost of being biracial in that time and place, she comes to the attention of gangsters. Her path is not an easy one, and she has to make hard choices. Jialing is a great character; she’s smart and strong, but also flawed.

Told in first person by Jialing, it’s a beautiful book, even though many of the things that happen are far from pretty. The phrasing, the descriptions, and the characters- they are nearly luminous. There is magical realism used throughout the book- not just Fox (my favorite character), but a now and then gate to the immortals. I recommend this book. 

The above is an affiliate link. If you click through and buy something- anything- from Amazon, they'll give me a few cents. 

I received this book free from the Amazon Vine program in return for a fair review. 

Neither of these things influenced my review.