Overview
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "A gifted writer . . . explores the bonds of sisterhood while powerfully evoking the often nightmarish American immigrant experience."--USA Today
In 1937, Shanghai is the Paris of Asia, a city of great wealth and glamour, the home of millionaires and beggars, gangsters and gamblers, patriots and revolutionaries, artists and warlords. Thanks to the financial security and material comforts provided by their father's prosperous rickshaw business, twenty-one-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister, May, are having the time of their lives. Though both sisters wave off authority and tradition, they couldn't be more different: Pearl is a Dragon sign, strong and stubborn, while May is a true Sheep, adorable and placid. Both are beautiful, modern, and carefree . . . until the day their father tells them that he has gambled away their wealth and that in order to repay his debts he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from California to find Chinese brides. As Japanese bombs fall on their beloved city, Pearl and May set out on the journey of a lifetime, one that will take them through the Chinese countryside, in and out of the clutch of brutal soldiers, and across the Pacific to the shores of America. In Los Angeles they begin a fresh chapter, trying to find love with the strangers they have married, brushing against the seduction of Hollywood, and striving to embrace American life even as they fight against discrimination, brave Communist witch hunts, and find themselves hemmed in by Chinatown's old ways and rules. At its heart, Shanghai Girls is a story of sisters: Pearl and May are inseparable best friends who share hopes, dreams, and a deep connection, but like sisters everywhere they also harbor petty jealousies and rivalries. They love each other, but each knows exactly where to drive the knife to hurt the other the most. Along the way they face terrible sacrifices, make impossible choices, and confront a devastating, life-changing secret, but through it all the two heroines of this astounding new novel hold fast to who they are: Shanghai girls. Praise for Shanghai Girls "A buoyant and lustrous paean to the bonds of sisterhood."--Booklist
"A rich work . . . as compulsively readable as it is an enlightening journey."--Denver Post
Customers Also Bought
Details
- ISBN-13: 9780812980530
- ISBN-10: 0812980530
- Publisher: Random House Trade
- Publish Date: February 2010
- Dimensions: 7.98 x 5.3 x 0.72 inches
- Shipping Weight: 0.56 pounds
- Page Count: 336
Related Categories
New paperbacks for reading groups
Shanghai Girls
By Lisa See
Set in the 1930s, See’s richly detailed historical novel tells the story of Pearl and May Chin—two wealthy, beautiful, liberal-minded sisters who are coming of age in the magical city of Shanghai. Life is grand for the girls until their father confesses that his fondness for gambling has done the family in, both financially and socially. In an effort to repay his debts, the girls’ father sells them to two men in America who are looking for Asian brides. Pearl and May are determined to stay in their homeland, but when the Japanese attack and their parents vanish, they decide to leave China for Los Angeles, where their future husbands await them. The immigration process proves easier said than done for the two young women, who arrive at Angel’s Island (known as the Ellis Island of the West Coast) only to be delayed by the authorities and questioned for several months. Once May and Pearl meet their husbands and become accustomed to American life, they find that their family heritage serves as a powerful source of inspiration and solace. Spanning 20 years in the sisters’ lives, this unforgettable narrative convincingly traces their dramatic development from privileged girls into hard-working women and wives. See has written a compelling and finely detailed novel that takes readers on an unforgettable journey into the past.
A reading group guide is included in the book and available online.
Cutting for Stone
By Abraham Verghese
Author of the much-praised medical memoir My Own Country, Verghese, who is a doctor as well as an author, now offers an expertly composed first novel about missionaries in India and Africa. In 1947, Sister Mary Joseph Praise leaves her missionary post in India to take a new position in Yemen. Traveling by ship to her new home, she saves the life of a fellow passenger—an English physician named Thomas Stone. Their meeting proves a fateful one, as Sister Praise comes to realize when she and Thomas are reunited at a hospital in Addis Ababa. Years later, she dies giving birth to twins—sons named Shiva and Marion, who are raised in Addis Ababa in an atmosphere of political upheaval. Their adopted parents are doctors at the local hospital, and the boys are raised within the confines of the medical complex. Marion serves as narrator for this poignant novel, recounting the story of how his foster parents met. As the two brothers become doctors themselves, they find that their destinies are bound up in each other and in the place they call home. Covering a 50-year span, Verghese’s accomplished novel has plenty of narrative momentum, moving smoothly between exotic locales and exploring ambitious themes of race, identity and family. An insightful and assured writer, Verghese writes from the heart about medicine and politics—timely topics that are clearly dear to him.
A reading group guide is available online.
Lowboy
By John Wray
Wray’s wonderfully original third novel focuses on New Yorker Will Heller, a 16-year-old schizophrenic who stops taking his medicine and sneaks away from the mental hospital where he’s a patient. Convinced that the end of the world is just a few hours away and that he’s destined to save mankind, Will is drawn into the subway tunnels of Manhattan. He rides the trains in search of a way to solve humanity’s problems—and in search of his friend Emily. Meanwhile, a determined detective named Ali Lateef pursues Will at the urging of Violet Heller, the boy’s mother. A beautiful, strong-willed and perpetually agitated Austrian woman, Violet has a secret of her own, and the task of finding her son proves to be surprisingly dangerous for everyone involved. The novel takes place in a single day, and it’s an action-packed ride heightened by Will’s smart observations and lyrical insights into modern culture. The book is filled with mesmerizing scenes set beneath the streets of New York, as Will travels underground on his strange quest to save the world—and himself. Wray’s sensitive portrayal of the teen brings to mind the work of J.D. Salinger and Jonathan Lethem. A fast-paced novel of pursuit, this dramatic, authentic narrative will solidify Wray’s reputation as one of America’s finest modern novelists.
A reading group guide is available as a PDF -- click here to download.
New paperbacks for reading groups
Shanghai Girls
By Lisa See
Set in the 1930s, See’s richly detailed historical novel tells the story of Pearl and May Chin—two wealthy, beautiful, liberal-minded sisters who are coming of age in the magical city of Shanghai. Life is grand for the girls until their father confesses that his fondness for gambling has done the family in, both financially and socially. In an effort to repay his debts, the girls’ father sells them to two men in America who are looking for Asian brides. Pearl and May are determined to stay in their homeland, but when the Japanese attack and their parents vanish, they decide to leave China for Los Angeles, where their future husbands await them. The immigration process proves easier said than done for the two young women, who arrive at Angel’s Island (known as the Ellis Island of the West Coast) only to be delayed by the authorities and questioned for several months. Once May and Pearl meet their husbands and become accustomed to American life, they find that their family heritage serves as a powerful source of inspiration and solace. Spanning 20 years in the sisters’ lives, this unforgettable narrative convincingly traces their dramatic development from privileged girls into hard-working women and wives. See has written a compelling and finely detailed novel that takes readers on an unforgettable journey into the past.
A reading group guide is included in the book and available online.
Cutting for Stone
By Abraham Verghese
Author of the much-praised medical memoir My Own Country, Verghese, who is a doctor as well as an author, now offers an expertly composed first novel about missionaries in India and Africa. In 1947, Sister Mary Joseph Praise leaves her missionary post in India to take a new position in Yemen. Traveling by ship to her new home, she saves the life of a fellow passenger—an English physician named Thomas Stone. Their meeting proves a fateful one, as Sister Praise comes to realize when she and Thomas are reunited at a hospital in Addis Ababa. Years later, she dies giving birth to twins—sons named Shiva and Marion, who are raised in Addis Ababa in an atmosphere of political upheaval. Their adopted parents are doctors at the local hospital, and the boys are raised within the confines of the medical complex. Marion serves as narrator for this poignant novel, recounting the story of how his foster parents met. As the two brothers become doctors themselves, they find that their destinies are bound up in each other and in the place they call home. Covering a 50-year span, Verghese’s accomplished novel has plenty of narrative momentum, moving smoothly between exotic locales and exploring ambitious themes of race, identity and family. An insightful and assured writer, Verghese writes from the heart about medicine and politics—timely topics that are clearly dear to him.
A reading group guide is available online.
Lowboy
By John Wray
Wray’s wonderfully original third novel focuses on New Yorker Will Heller, a 16-year-old schizophrenic who stops taking his medicine and sneaks away from the mental hospital where he’s a patient. Convinced that the end of the world is just a few hours away and that he’s destined to save mankind, Will is drawn into the subway tunnels of Manhattan. He rides the trains in search of a way to solve humanity’s problems—and in search of his friend Emily. Meanwhile, a determined detective named Ali Lateef pursues Will at the urging of Violet Heller, the boy’s mother. A beautiful, strong-willed and perpetually agitated Austrian woman, Violet has a secret of her own, and the task of finding her son proves to be surprisingly dangerous for everyone involved. The novel takes place in a single day, and it’s an action-packed ride heightened by Will’s smart observations and lyrical insights into modern culture. The book is filled with mesmerizing scenes set beneath the streets of New York, as Will travels underground on his strange quest to save the world—and himself. Wray’s sensitive portrayal of the teen brings to mind the work of J.D. Salinger and Jonathan Lethem. A fast-paced novel of pursuit, this dramatic, authentic narrative will solidify Wray’s reputation as one of America’s finest modern novelists.
A reading group guide is available as a PDF -- click here to download.