Dragon Springs Road
Dragon Springs Road
Author: Janie Chang
Desc: From the author of Three Souls comes a vividly imagined and haunting new novel set in early 20th century Shanghai—a story of friendship heartbreak and history that follows a young Eurasian orphan’s search for her long-lost mother. That night I dreamed that I had wandered out to Dragon Springs Road all on my own when a dreadful knowledge seized me that my mother had gone away never to return . . . In 1908 Jialing is only seven years old when she is abandoned in the courtyard of a once-lavish estate outside Shanghai. Jialing is zazhong—Eurasian—and faces a lifetime of contempt from both Chinese and Europeans. Until now she’s led a secluded life behind courtyard walls but without her mother’s protection she can survive only if the estate’s new owners the Yang family agree to take her in. Jialing finds allies in Anjuin the eldest Yang daughter and Fox an animal spirit who has lived in the courtyard for centuries. But Jialing’s life as the Yangs’ bondservant changes unexpectedly when she befriends a young English girl who then mysteriously vanishes. Murder political intrigue jealousy forbidden love … Jialing confronts them all as she grows into womanhood during the tumultuous early years of the Chinese republic always hopeful of finding her long-lost mother. Through every turn she is guided both by Fox and by her own strength of spirit away from the shadows of her past toward a very different fate if she has the courage to accept it.