This historical novel focuses on the life of a Chinese woman named Anyu, and her experiences from the 1920s to the 1940s. During this time, Japan was invading China, and civil war in Russia was driving residents to flee the country.
In 1925, fifteen-year-old Anyu and her mother are living in near-poverty in Harbin, China, near the Siberian border.
Anya's mother was once the mistress of the warlord Zhang, but Zhang is a womanizer with seven wives, and he doesn't care about his out-of-wedlock daughter Anyu or her mother.
Anyu wants to go to school, but can't because education is reserved for the wealthy. So Anyu stays home and learns from her accomplished mother: mathematics, Russian literature, English, and how to draw.
Anyu is drawing pictures near the train station one day, and finds a velvet bag that contains an exquisite egg-shaped ornament crafted from smooth crystalline shells, their surface engraved with luminescent, feathery filaments that sparkle. Supporting the egg is a translucent rock-like gemstone, carved to resemble a glacier overflowing with a rivulet of diamonds. The egg opens to reveal an elegant trellis basket holding a bouquet of white flowers with gold stamens inlaid with gemstones.
A Russian man rushes up to Anyu, and - in poor Chinese - says the bag is his, and asks for it back.
Anyu isn't about to be fooled, and says the man must tell her what's in the bag and and how he got it. The Russian says the bag contains a Fabergé egg called the Winter Egg, and he's a jeweler who helped craft treasures for the Romanovs that ruled Russia. When the imperial palace was about to be breached during the Russian Revolution, the Romanovs gave him the Winter Egg for safekeeping.
Anyu returns the bag, and the grateful Russian says he's Isaac Mandelburg, and he's on his way to his uncle's jewelry shop in Shanghai. Isaac gives Anyu a silk handkerchief with the address of the jewelry store, and says he'll help her if she ever comes to Shanghai.
This incident changes Anyu's life.
A few months later, when Anyu is sixteen, the Japanese bomb Harbin and Anyu's mother is killed. Anyu has no one to turn to, so she pawns her one valuable possession - a necklace from her mother - and buys a train ticket to Shanghai, which is over 1,000 miles away. In Shanghai, Anyu makes her way to the Mandelburg jewelry store.
Isaac takes Anyu in over the objections of his family - Russian Jews who view Anyu as a Chinese stranger in their midst. (Note: I was interested to learn that a good number of Russian Jews settled in China, and according to Wikipedia, there are still enclaves of practicing Jews in the country.)
Jewish religious ceremony
Before too long Anyu becomes a member of the Mandelburg clan and - after much cajoling - Anyu convinces Isaac to teach her to be a jeweler. This is unprecedented, because in the Mandelburg family, and among Russians in general, women NEVER become jewelers.
As all this is going on, the Japanese are taking control of cities across China, and a Japanese collector is determined to acquire all the Fabergé eggs that once belonged to the Romanovs. The collector will do ANYTHING - including using spies, honeytraps, coercion, collusion, and murder - to get the treasures. This puts the Mandelburg family at risk.
As Anyu gets a little older, she learns to make beautiful jewelry, but she also makes some very poor decisions. Moreover, Japanese soldiers in Shanghai, along with hooligans and protection gangs, make the city a terribly dangerous place.
In the 1930s, with the Japanese becoming more and more aggressive, Anyu finds herself in dire circumstances. Anyu is a resilient woman, though, with skills that are valued.
By the 1940s, gray-haired Anyu is in Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation (not a spoiler; the book opens with this scene). By now Anyu has suffered loss, heartbreak, and servitude, but she's also a beloved 'auntie' who's known romance and acclaim.
I was interested to read about the artistry involved with designing and making jewelry, and also the risks associated with jewelry-making, such as: injured fingers and hands; burns from harsh chemicals; lung damage from poisonous fumes; strained eyesight, etc.
Jeweler's Bench
I enjoyed the book, my major critique being that Anyu sometimes does foolish things, like drinking two bottles of whiskey and taking up with an obvious wrong 'un. Anyu also smokes too much and sleeps too little, all to further her jewelry-making career. I wanted Anyu to make better choices, but then it would have been a different book, so it's all good.😊
I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Christine Lin, who does a fine job.
Thanks to Netgalley, Weina Dai Randel, and Brilliance Audio for a copy of the book.
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