The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang

The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang

Kate Quinn and Janie Chang are both well-known historical fiction authors, with Kate having published such books as The Alice Network and The Rose Code as well as the Empress of Rome saga while Janie Chang has written The Porcelain Moon, named a Top 5 Historical Novels of 2023 by the Toronto Star. They have come together to co-write The Phoenix Crown, an Amazon Editor's Pick for Best of Literature and Fiction, and happily were able to remain friends through working together. It deals with bullying, confinement and forced institutionalization, death, drug use, gun violence, racism, human trafficking, death of a parent, toxic relationships, fire resulting in injury, cultural appropriation and colonization, and murder.

Gemma is a soprano with dreams of the opera stage, and she just arrived in San Francisco after fleeing from New York to take comfort in the arms of her best friend Nelly. But when she arrives, Nelly is nowhere to be found. Instead, Gemma starts renting Nelly's old room in a boarding house where Alice, curator of the Botany Department in the California Academy of Sciences, lives above her. As Gemma tries to rebuild both her career and personality from the ground up, utilizing the patronage of Henry Thornton: business mogul, philanthropist, and lover of the arts, she comes into contact with a young Chinese woman capable of making beautiful embroidery work, Suling. Suling is helping Thornton repair the embroidery on a beautiful Chinese robe, desperate to collect as much money as possible so that she can escape an arranged marriage she is not interested in, and realizes that she may have some information about Gemma's missing friend. Suddenly, the woman are forced to band together as San Francisco is hit by a devastating earthquake and the aftershocks and fires that follow it. But natural disasters are not the only thing they need to worry about.

This is the first novel I've read by Janie Chang, although I did read The Alice Network by Kate Quinn - and while I did enjoy it, it does not hold a candle to The Phoenix Crown. This book is very well done. The writing was wonderful, the portrait they paint of old San Francisco before it was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake was nuanced and descriptive. The characters were likeable, even when they were trying to be hard and unfeeling, and they each grow so much as you watch. While I would consider Gemma and Suling the main characters, there are two secondary characters of extreme import and I do not think they were quite as well developed. And while I did feel for the characters and cared about their journey, there was perhaps a bit too much focus on the setting and superfluous historical information that I think detracted from the story a little. I particularly enjoyed the way the authors chose to wrap up the story and the way they chose to write the epilogue.

If you are a fan of history and women finding their own strength, read The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang, which I'm giving 4.5 stars out of 5. It keeps you interested, rarely seems to be progressing too slowly, and manages to teach you about the origins of San Francisco, too. What more do you need?

For more from Kate Quinn, check here https://www.katequinnauthor.com/

And you can find Janie Chang here https://janiechang.com/homedec2022/

Pairs well with a serving of hasty pudding and not being a "stupid, caterwauling bitch" - per Gemma's old landlord.

My favorite quote: "These Asters and Rockefellers may boast about building their empires by the sweat of their brow alone, but they're idiots. Hard work is required, yes, but no empire is built without luck."