"Kirsty Manning weaves together little-known threads of World War II
history, family secrets, the past and the present into a page-turning,
beautiful novel."-- Heather Morris, #1 New York Times bestselling
author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz
A gripping historical novel that tells the little-known story of Jewish
refugees who fled to Shanghai during WWII.
1939: Two young girls meet in Shanghai, also known as the "Paris
of the East". Beautiful local Li and Jewish refugee Romy form a fierce
friendship, but the deepening shadows of World War II fall over the
women as they slip between the city's glamorous French Concession
district and the teeming streets of the Shanghai Ghetto. Yet soon the
realities of war prove to be too much for these close friends as they
are torn apart.
2016: Fleeing London with a broken heart, Alexandra returns to
Australia to be with her grandparents, Romy and Wilhelm. Her grandfather
is dying, and over the coming weeks Romy and Wilhelm begin to reveal the
family mysteries they have kept secret for more than half a century. As
fragments of her mother's history finally become clear, Alexandra
struggles with what she learns while more is also revealed about her
grandmother's own past in Shanghai.
After Wilhelm dies, Alexandra flies to Shanghai, determined to trace her
grandparents' past. Peeling back the layers of their hidden lives, she
is forced to question what she knows about her family--and herself.
The Song of the Jade Lily is a lush, provocative, and beautiful story
of friendship, motherhood, the price of love, and the power of hardship
and courage that can shape us all.
