Chinese Historical Fiction

When Donaldina Cameron arrives at the Occidental Mission Home for Girls in 1895, she intends to teach sewing skills to young Chinese women immigrants, but, within days, she discovers that the job is much more complicated than perfect stitches and even hems. San Francisco has a dark side, one where a powerful underground organization - the criminal tong - brings Chinese young women to America to sell them as slaves. With the help of Chinese interpreters and the Chinatown police squad, Donaldina becomes a tireless social reformer to stop the abominable slave and prostitution trade.

As tensions rise on the Korean peninsula, US diplomat Nate Simon is sent to Seoul to gauge the political situation and advise the president. He also needs to find out why someone sent the president an ancient, intricately carved comb with an ivory inlay of a two-headed dragon. Though familiar with Korea’s language and culture, Nate knows little of its troubled history. Beautiful and mysterious embassy aide Anna Carlson believes it’s time he learns, starting with the extraordinary story of Korea’s last queen.

Thirteen year-old Johnny Merrimon had the perfect life: happy parents and a twin sister that meant the world to him. But Alyssa went missing a year ago, stolen off the side of a lonely street with only one witness to the crime. His family shattered, his sister presumed dead, Johnny risks everything to explore the dark side of his hometown in a last, desperate search.

From the bustling streets of America to the quiet mountain towns in rural China, this captivating collection of short stories spans continents and cultures, weaving a tapestry of universal human experiences. Each tale offers a unique glimpse into lives shaped by love, betrayal, and the search for identity. These stories, by turns humorous and poignant, explore the intricate threads that connect us all—the joy of friendship, the pain of betrayal, the challenges of coming of age, and the bittersweet realities of leaving one's homeland. With its rich diversity of settings and emotions, this ...

"Mr. Van Dorn, I'm sorry. . . but I must inform you that your brother is . . ." Yokohama, Japan, 1873. Japan has opened up to the world after almost three hundred years of self-imposed isolation and is rapidly developing. Nelson Van Dorn, a former New York City police detective, has sailed for Yokohama, expecting to start a new life by going into the silk exporting business with his younger brother, Warren, whom he plans to meet there, only to learn that his brother has died in a mysterious fire, that he was an opium addict, and that he has left Nelson in debt. To pay off this debt, Nelson ...

字字珠玑的故事、始料未及的真相、彻骨入髓的爱杀，这是一部从古言套路中挣脱出来的真情之作！一念情痴金匣起，死生契阔心相照…… 字字珠璣的故事、始料未及的真相、徹骨入髓的愛殺，這是一部從古言套路中掙脫出來的真情之作！一念情癡金匣起，死生契闊心相照……

Daiyu never wanted to be like the tragic heroine for whom she was named, revered for her beauty and cursed with heartbreak. But when she is kidnapped and forced across an ocean from China to America, Daiyu must relinquish the home and future she imagined for herself. Over the years that follow, she is forced to keep reinventing herself to survive. From a calligraphy school, to a San Francisco brothel, to a shop tucked into the Idaho mountains, we follow Daiyu on a desperate quest to outrun the tragedy that chases her.

Li Du was an imperial librarian. Now he is an exile. Arriving in Dayan, the last Chinese town before the Tibetan border, he is surprised to find it teeming with travelers, soldiers, and merchants. All have come for a spectacle unprecedented in this remote province: an eclipse of the sun commanded by the emperor himself. When a Jesuit astronomer is found murdered in the home of the local magistrate, blame is hastily placed on Tibetan bandits. But Li Du suspects this was no random killing.

Peach Blossom Paradise, set at the time of the reform, is the story of Xiumi, the daughter of a wealthy landowner and former government official who falls prey to insanity and disappears. Days later, a man with a gold cicada in his pocket turns up at their family estate and is inexplicably welcomed as a relative.

Matilda, Lady of Flanders, Duchess of Normandy, rules as Regent of Normandy for her husband, Duke William. William has won the Battle of Hastings, but Saxon England does not wish to surrender to him as King. As William sets England to flame, Matilda waits in Normandy for the time to come when she can claim her crown. Through bloodshed, battle, and struggle will England be won, but even as Matilda rejoices for her new power, a prophecy is spoken, linking the fates of her children to the wailing voices and horrific images in dreams which come to haunt her.

Shanghai, 1912. Violet Minturn is the privileged daughter of the American madam of the city's most exclusive courtesan house. But when the Ching dynasty is overturned, Violet is separated from her mother in a cruel act of chicanery and forced to become a "virgin courtesan." Half-Chinese and half-American, Violet grapples with her place in the worlds of East and West - until she is able to merge her two halves, empowering her to become a shrewd courtesan who excels in the business of seduction and illusion, though she still struggles to understand who she is.

Lily is haunted by memories of who she once was, and of a person, long gone, who defined her existence. She has nothing but time now, as she recounts the tale of Snow Flower and asks the gods for forgiveness.

Long before Western writers had even conceived the idea of writing detective stories, the Chinese had developed a long tradition of literary works that chronicled the cases of important district magistrates. One of the most celebrated of these was Judge Dee, who lived in the seventh century.

Leaving behind the Divine Beast World, Hui Yue embarks upon the life of an immortal in the vast outside world. To resurrect his loved one, he will go to hell and back. Follow Hui Yue as he enters a world unlike any he has ever seen before and adapts to the many changes that surrounds him on his quest to become the strongest person alive.

China: AD 1200 Guo Jing and Lotus have escaped Qiu Qianren’s stronghold, but at a steep price: Lotus has been mortally wounded. The only one who could save her life is Duan, King of the South, a man skilled and renowned for his healing. But little do they know that danger awaits, including a plan to tear them apart.

Having become the new Judge of Hell, Hui Yue travels back to the Celestial Sword Sect where he is to start a new life as an immortal. While striving to gain enough strength to defeat his enemies, he must continue to look out for the people he cares most about. He journeys out on a trip to find the one person who can help him resurrect his loved one....

It was on the Silk Roads that East and West first encountered each other through trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas, cultures, and religions. From the rise and fall of empires to the spread of Buddhism and the advent of Christianity and Islam, right up to the great wars of the 20th century - this book shows how the fate of the West has always been inextricably linked to the East.

Jingwen spends her nights as a showgirl at the Paramount, one of the most lavish clubs in Shanghai, competing ruthlessly to charm wealthy patrons. To cap off her shifts, she runs money for her grandmother, the exclusive surgeon to the most powerful gang in the city. A position her grandmother is pressuring her to inherit. When a series of dancers are targeted—the attacker stealing their faces—Jingwen fears she could be next. And as the faces of the dancers start appearing on wealthy foreign socialites, she realizes Shanghai's mirage of carefree luxury comes at a terrible price.

China, 1957: Chairman Mao has declared a new openness in society. “Let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend.” Many intellectuals fear it is only a trick, and Kai Ying’s husband, Sheng, a teacher, has promised not to jeopardize their safety or that of their young son, Tao. But one July morning, just before his sixth birthday, Tao watches helplessly as Sheng is dragged away for writing a letter criticizing the Communist Party and sent to a labor camp for “reeducation”. Once again, Tsukiyama brings us a powerfully moving story of ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances with grace and courage.

An anonymous letter warns Senior Police Inspector Melnikov to “DROP YOUR INVESTIGATION OR FACE DEATH”. But the dilemma—which one of his ongoing investigations did they mean? It’s 1935, and Borya Melnikov has risen to the rank of Senior Inspector on Harbin’s Judicial Police unit in Manchuria. But his position is becoming untenable as Manchukuo’s Japanese masters are increasingly intolerant of his independent style . . . and now this anonymous threat lands on his desk. It’s not in his nature to back down to threats, but it is only weeks before his wife returns to Harbin. He must...