“Jepson...evokes time and place well as he describes the life of privilege that Feng comes to take for granted only to have her life veer dramatically and be overtaken by the Great Leap Forward.” — Booklist
“[Jepson] does a solid job of voicing a female character.” — Library Journal
“Strong on detail and emotional intensity.” — Kirkus Reviews
“[A] riveting storyline.” — Publishers Weekly
“Poignant and elegantly written.” — Romantic Times
“An accomplished first novel. Duncan Jepson magically inhabits the life of a young Chinese woman in 1930s Shanghai, following Feng’s unlikely evolution from neglected second daughter to first wife of the rich and powerful Sang family and her unexpected epilogue. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.” — Janice Y. K. Lee, New York Times bestselling author of The Piano Teacher
“This story is breathtaking. Like a poem or a painting, it reveals the old Shanghai. It’s a great work that will move its readers.” — Hong Ying, international bestselling author of Daughter of the River
“The life of this novel’s main character is splintered into thousands of pieces, each of them reflecting the changes of Chinese history, yet all of them coming out in Duncan Jepson’s poetic, passionate writing.” — Qiu Xiaolong, author of the Inspector Chen mysteries
“A beautifully poetic story. Duncan Jepson creates a poignant set of characters and follows the journey of one woman who attempts to stop the cycle of history in the only way she knows how, but with dire consequences.” — Geling Yan, author of The Banquet Bug