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| William Morrow / Harper 360 14 March 2024 My thanks to the publisher and Random T Tours for my copy of the book and the invitation to the blog tour |
France, 1918. In the final days of the First World War, a young Chinese woman, Pauline Deng, runs away from her uncle’s home in Paris to evade a marriage being arranged for her in Shanghai.
To prevent the union, she needs the help of her cousin Theo, who is working as a translator for the Chinese Labour Corps in the French countryside.
In the town of Noyelles-sur-Mer, Camille Roussel is planning her escape from an abusive marriage, and to end a love affair that can no longer continue.
When Camille offers Pauline a room for her stay, the two women become friends.
But it’s not long before Pauline uncovers a perilous secret that Camille has been hiding from her.
As their dangerous situation escalates, the two women are forced to make a terrible decision that will bind them together for the rest of their lives.
Set against the little-known history of the 140,000 Chinese workers brought to Europe as non-combatant labor during WWI, The Porcelain Moon is a tale of forbidden love, identity and belonging, and what we are willing to risk for freedom.
The hardcover edition was included on “Best of” lists by the Washington Post, PopSugar, Bookbub, and the Globe & Mail. It also got excellent reviews from the Toronto Star (“An unsentimental, wonderfully researched page-turner about a little-known aspect of First World War history, it’s rife with life’s wisdom”) and Gloss Book Club (“What an immersive historical fiction novel!”)
This novel is inspired by the little-known history of the 140,000 Chinese workers that were recruited as laborers by the Allied powers during WWI.
📖 My Review..
What a lovely story this turned out to be and so beautifully described that I felt like I lived alongside Pauline Deng as she seeks to escape an arranged marriage. Working in her uncle’s Paris antique business gives Pauline a certain amount of freedom, however, young Chinese women at the turn of the twentieth century had little choice about the direction of their lives.
Beautifully reminiscent of 1918 France the author very cleverly weaves two separate stories that of Pauline and also the story of Camille Roussel whose faded aristocratic background gives her abusive husband a sense of importance in the village where he was once looked down upon for being poor. However, as we find out, even the most respectable of marriages have their secrets.
Cleverly combining history I learned much about the 140,000 Chinese workers who were relocated and used as labourers by the allies in Europe. Descriptions of the labour camps were done particularly well and brought the bleakness of being in a strange country to light.
I really enjoyed reading The Porcelain Moon, it is beautifully evocative of time and place and is definitely a story which will stay with me for a long time.
About the Author
Born in Taiwan, Janie Chang has lived in the Philippines, Iran, Thailand, New Zealand, and Canada. She writes historical fiction, often drawing from family history and ancestral stories. She has a degree in computer science and is a graduate of the Writer’s Studio Program at Simon Fraser University. She is the author of Three Souls, Dragon Springs Road, and The Library of Legends.
X / Twitter @JanieChang33 #ThePorcelainMoon
@Harper360UK
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Thanks for the blog tour support x
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