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A Novel
by Weina Dai Randel
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.
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (2/12/2026)
Just started this month selection for one of my book clubs, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59232498-the-last-rose-of-shanghai The Last Rose of Shanghai by https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14007877.Weina_Dai_Randel Weina Dai Randel . New author to me, never have read any of her other boo...
-Carol_N
"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
"The Last Rose of Shanghai is a powerful story of the relationship between a Shanghai heiress and a Jewish refugee, set against the backdrop of a nightclub in China on the eve of the Second World War. Weina Dai Randel skillfully shines a light on a little-known moment in history through the lens of two vividly drawn characters whose unique and unexpected relationship is one readers will never forget." —Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author of The Woman with the Blue Star
"Set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai, this is an unforgettable, page-turning tale of an impossible affair between lovers from two cultures. Randel casts an unflinching eye at the horrors of wartime Shanghai, where refugees starve while the wealthy and privileged continue to drink and dance, and where daily threats of danger and death only serve to fan forbidden passions to a blazing climax." —Janie Chang, bestselling author of Dragon Springs Road and The Library of Legends
This information about The Last Rose of Shanghai was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Weina Dai Randel is the award-winning author of the novels The Moon in the Palace and The Empress of Bright Moon, a historical duology about Wu Zetian, China's only female emperor. The Moon in the Palace won the RWA RITA Award in 2017, and the series has been translated into seven languages and sold worldwide. Born in China, Weina came to the United States at twenty-four. She holds an MA in English from Texas Woman's University in Denton, Texas, and has worked as the subject-matter expert for Southern New Hampshire University's online MFA program and as an adjunct professor for Eastfield College. Interviews with Weina have appeared on WFAA's Good Morning Texas as well as in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Review of Books, RT Book Reviews, and BooksbyWomen.org. She lives in Texas with her loving husband and two children. For more information visit www.weinarandel.com.
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