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The Last Rose of Shanghai cover art

The Last Rose of Shanghai

By: Weina Dai Randel
Narrated by: Josh Bloomberg, Emily Woo Zeller
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Summary

In Japanese-occupied Shanghai, two people from different cultures are drawn together by fate and the freedom of music...

1940. Aiyi Shao is a young heiress and the owner of a formerly popular and glamorous Shanghai nightclub. Ernest Reismann is a penniless Jewish refugee driven out of Germany, an outsider searching for shelter in a city wary of strangers. He loses nearly all hope until he crosses paths with Aiyi. When she hires Ernest to play piano at her club, her defiance of custom causes a sensation. His instant fame makes Aiyi’s club once again the hottest spot in Shanghai. Soon they realize they share more than a passion for jazz - but their differences seem insurmountable, and Aiyi is engaged to another man. 

As the war escalates, Aiyi and Ernest find themselves torn apart, and their choices between love and survival grow more desperate. In the face of overwhelming odds, a chain of events is set in motion that will change both their lives forever.

From the electrifying jazz clubs to the impoverished streets of a city under siege, The Last Rose of Shanghai is a timeless, sweeping story of love and redemption.

©2021 Weina Dai Randel. (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“[Emily Woo] Zeller delivers the chapters told from the perspective of Aiyi, whose privileged upbringing, beauty, and good business sense are not enough to protect her from the hardships of war. [Josh] Bloomberg performs the chapters focused on Ernest, a German-Jewish refugee who arrives in the city looking for a safe haven. Zeller's comfort with Asian languages and accents and Bloomberg's with European ones underscore Aiyi's and Ernest's divergent spheres. Together the narrators build on the couple's conflicted emotions as their relationship grows from being business associates to much more.” (AudioFile Magazine)

“Fans of sweeping, dramatic WWII epics that are rich in historical detail, such as Lisa See’s Shanghai Girls or Paullina Simons’s The Bronze Horseman will be enthralled.” (Booklist

“Weina Dai Randel’s novel deserves a place of distinction among WWII fiction.” (Historical Novel Society)  

What listeners say about The Last Rose of Shanghai

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Nice premise; patchy execution

The author writes well about relationships and the inner lives of the characters, but moments of high drama are marked by too many implausible coincidences, unrealistic action and clichéd dialogue. The readers do a great job trying to bring out there best in the novel.

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A real page turner

It's been a while since a book had me gripped from the beginning It had everything Storyline was great Characters where engaging and l felt invested Every detail was in depth without being tedious I loved it Recommend it as a great read

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