Sunday Shanghai Surprise!!

Thank you Rochelle Clark, from Random House Publishing Group!!

I didn't even know it was on my porch but apparently it got delivered on Saturday! What was it? I got a lovely box with Lisa See's book Shanghai Girls.     I just can not wait to read this book.  I loved The Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and I have heard that this one does not disappoint also.

Look at this picture!  The box also had chocolate enclosed.  And  as a suggestion for a book club treat, I got a complimentary bag of  Hershey's Bliss!  What a treat!  My book club meets online...I wonder if I will share by mail or just say..."get your own bag."

This book has been recommended as an excellent book club read.  I think I am going to pitch it to my club. (It has come up as a nomination).  I believe it missed the radar a few times and  but now more than ever, I want to share this special story with my reading group. 

ABOUT THIS BOOK

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.

 Anyway..I do have a Mailbox Monday to post but I couldn't help sharing this great little surprise all on it's own.  So many in blogland have read this one. I will be sure to let you know what I think when I read it.