Book Review of
The Last Rose of Shanghai

Lynn's Review

The Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel was published 2021. It is WWII historical fiction.

Set in China during WWII this is a powerful story of family, war, business, forbidden love, and more.

Aiyi Shao an heiress and the owner of a Shanghai nightclub meets Ernest Reismann Jewish refugee who fled to China. 

There are so many books written about WWII, but this book is so different because it is about China during WWII. I have never read anything about China during WWII and I found this book fascinating. 

I knew that Japan occupied China during WWII, but I had no idea that so many Jewish refugees fled to China hoping for a better life. Instead, they faced many of the same things that they were hoping to flee. 

The Last Rose of Shanghai has so many twists and turns and the ending totally surprised me. I listened to this on audio and enjoyed it, but there were quite a few PG-13 scenes that would have been easier to skip had I read it in print. I really enjoyed this book, but I will say I could have done without the very detailed love scenes between the two main characters. This would have been a five star read for me if it had not contained those descriptive scenes. 

This book has me longing to know more about China during WWII though and for me that makes it a great historical fiction read.