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書語萊鎮第一期:The Last Rose of Shanghai - 戴微娜

書語萊鎮第一期:The Last Rose of Shanghai - 戴微娜

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每次走进莱镇图书馆的阅览室,映入我眼帘的那一面摆放着琳琅满目大书墙总引起我的注意力和好奇心。书架后的墙上写着 "Celebrate Lexington's Authors - 150th Cary Memorial Library 1868 - 2018". 也许你还不知道, 莱镇有 500 多位著书的作者,图书馆内收藏了1500 多本莱镇人撰写的书籍,题材包括科学、教育、文学、历史、经济学、健康、计算机科学和其他领域,这对我们来说是非常宝贵的资源。


"書語萊鎮" (ReadLexington)专栏的焦点关注居住在我们身边的当地作家,他们既是大家的近邻也是良师益友,对我们来说闻之遥远却又那么的接近。書語萊鎮旨在宣传莱镇人撰写的书籍,分享作家们创作写书的过程和记录日常生活的一瞥。在宣传他们取得的成就同时,鼓励大家一起阅读莱镇人的著书。透过这些散发着温暖、明亮的莱镇人文之光,体验百年小镇深厚的璀璨文化和历史底蕴。


Summer afternoon-summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful  words in the English language. 

-- An International Episode, Writer, Henry James  


这个夏日,选一段美丽的下午时光

与書語萊鎮一起读一本莱镇人写的书。


 

鱼儿


关于作者


戴微娜 (Weina Dai Randel) 著有是三部小说的获奖作者。她写了《上海最后的玫瑰》、以及关于武则天的历史两部曲《宫中的月亮》和《明月皇后》。戴微娜是 RWA RITA 奖的获得者、全国犹太图书奖决赛选手Goodreads 选择奖半决赛选手和 RT 书评人选择奖提名人。她的书已被翻译成十一种外语。


戴微娜的新小说《上海最后的玫瑰》(12/1/21)讲述了一个富有的中国夜总会老板和一个身无分文的、从纳粹德国逃到上海的犹太钢琴家之间的的不可能的爱情故事。



戴微娜出生在中国,二十四岁时来到美国,并开始用她的第二语言(英语)说、写和做梦。她拥有德克萨斯州丹顿市德克萨斯女子大学的英语硕士学位。她曾担任南新罕布什尔大学 MFA 项目的主题专家和伊斯特菲尔德(Eastfield )学院的兼职教授。


WFAA 的《早安德州》以及《今日世界文学》、《中国日报》、《华尔街日报》、《赫芬顿邮报》、《洛杉矶书评》、《纽约邮报》和《RT 书评》等刊物都对 Weina 进行了采访。在得克萨斯州生活了多年后,微娜现在和她深爱的丈夫、两个孩子以及后院的花栗鼠家庭一起住在波士顿。


 


我想和读者架起一座桥梁,让人们了解无论是中国人、美国华人还是美国亚裔都是敢于追求梦想的。我想通过一个个引人入胜的故事,带领读者进入一个充满文化和历史的世界里, 开始一段身临其境亲密无间的旅程。

--戴微娜


Interviewed by 

書語莱镇 - ReadLexington


  • 到目前为止,你出版了多少部小说?


    我出版了三部小说:《上海最后的玫瑰》(2021)和历史两部曲《宫中的月亮》(2016)、《明月皇后》(2016),关于中国历史上唯一的女皇帝武则天的传记小说。


  • 你能告诉我《上海最后的玫瑰》吗?它是关于什么的?


    《上海最后的玫瑰》讲述了一个中国上流社会的夜总会老板和一个从纳粹德国逃到上海的身无分文的犹太难民之间的禁忌爱情故事。故事背景设定在 1940 年至 1945 年间被日本占领的上海。评论称这是一部跨越种族、阶层、传统、宗教和战争的史诗。


  • 你为什么选择写这部历史小说?


    我在中国出生长大。二十四岁时,我移民到美国。在那之前,我在上海生活了五年。时至今日,我依然对那里的生活有着美好的回忆,骑自行车上班,买衣服时讨价还价,逛夜市吃咖喱鸡。还有一些不那么美好的回忆,比如在街上被扒手偷,怕没钱付公交车费,被房东驱逐。作为一个年轻、挣扎、每月靠薪水在大都市生活的单身女性,我感受了那些都会遇到的兴奋和烦恼。在上海,我开始着迷于这座城市的海派文化,多元文化的融合,以及那在装饰艺术、哥特式、巴洛克式建筑中看到的持久的异国存在。那些当地人把面包扔到小巷里给犹太难民的二战期间故事,多年后我仍然记忆犹新。


    但直到一位朋友建议我写一篇关于上海犹太人的故事,我才开始深究这段历史。那是在 2018 年,也就是我出版《明月皇后》两部曲两年后,我已经准备好进行另一个项目了。又因为我要主持一个犹太教成人礼,我认为这也是向我家族的犹太传统致敬的好主意。


    作为一名历史小说作家,我还知道,尽管今天出版的二战小说多如牛毛,但大部分书都是以欧洲为背景的,很少有人描述太平洋战区的战争、中国人的困境,或者日本作为轴心国成员的暴行。事实上,二战摧毁了世界的许多角落,带来了众多层面的毁坏。在这场令人心碎的灾难中,当许多人的生命在上海岌岌可危时,却有约 18,000 名犹太人逃离纳粹德国,来到上海,并在战争中幸存下来。很少有人知道这段鲜为人知的历史,包括我自己的犹太亲戚。


  •  你喜欢写什么样故事?


    不平凡的人做了不平凡的事的故事让我着迷!我对制作华裔和亚裔美国人的角色特别感兴趣。这些角色可能很坚强,也可能很脆弱,但它们都是独特的、相关的,并且在某些方面存在缺陷。


    我也倾向于将历史事件与人物联系起来,以便读者了解历史;我的目标是以戏剧性和宣泄的方式让过去鲜活起来。


  • 你写一本书平均需要多长时间?


    我花了三年零六个月的时间写完《上海最后的玫瑰》,用了十年的时间写了第一部小说《宫中的月亮》,而续集《明月皇后》则用了两年时间。所以平均而言,我会说写一部小说大约需要三年时间。我希望我能加快速度,但我是一个写得慢的人,用我亲戚的话说,我还是个修订瘾君子。


  • 你的下一本新书是什么?计划什么时候发布?


    目前我正在创作一部新的小说《夜天使》,它是一部以奥地利维也纳为背景,讲述了一对外交夫妇冒着生命危险给犹太人发放救命签证的历史故事。小说是有关被誉为国际义人的中国外交官何凤山博士。计划在2023年2月14日正式发行。

关于《上海最后的玫瑰》


在日军占领的上海,两个不同文化的人被命运和音乐结合在一起.


1940年, 邵艾伊是一位年轻的女继承人,也是上海一家曾经风靡一时的夜总会的老板。恩斯特·赖斯曼(Ernest Reismann)则是一名身无分文的犹太难民,被驱逐出德国。他是这座警惕陌生人的城市中寻找庇护所的局外人。在遇到了艾伊之前,他几乎失去了所有希望。当她聘请恩斯特为她的夜总会弹钢琴时,她对传统习俗的蔑视引起了轰动。他的一举成名,也让艾伊的会所再次成为上海的热点。很快他们就意识到,他们的共同之处并并不局限于对爵士乐的热爱——但他们之间的鸿沟似乎是不可逾越的,艾伊已经与另一个男人订婚了。


随着战争的升级,艾伊和恩斯特发现自己被撕裂,他们在爱情和生存之间的选择变得更加绝望。可是,面对压倒性的困难,一连串事件开始发生,并将永远改变他们的生活。


从激动人心的爵士乐俱乐部到被围困城市的贫困街道,《上海最后的玫瑰》是一个恒古不变的,感人至深的关于爱情与救赎的故事。


《上海最后的玫瑰》获奖荣誉 



  • 全国犹太图书奖决赛入围者

  • 喧嚣俱乐部 (Bustle Club) 2021 年 12 月最受期待的小说之一

  • 碧山俱乐部(WildChina Book Club) 2021 年最佳中国历史小说

  • 野性杂志(Undemosticated) 2021 年最佳小说


Cary Memorial Library Event 


Receiving the RITA Award at RWA Conference, 2017


Book signing at Barnes and Noble 

Receiving congratulations from a fellow writer 

Sonali Dev

 

 上海最后的玫瑰 Review

  

  • “与丽莎·西(Lisa See)的《上海女孩》(Shanghai Girls)或保丽娜·西蒙斯(Paullina Simons)的《青铜骑士》(The Bronze Horseman)相似,小说丰富的历史细节、激动人心的二战史诗的让读者着迷。” —书单


  • “Weina Dai Randel (戴微娜)的小说值得在二战小说中占有一席之地。” ——历史小说社


  • “这本有声读物探索了上海的犹太社区,并触及了当时跨越文化亲密关系的困难。” —— 音频文件


  • 《上海最后的玫瑰》讲述了一位上海女继承人和一位犹太难民之间动人心弦的故事。背景是二战前夕的中国上海的一家夜总会。戴微娜对两位人物的生动描述,巧妙地照亮了一个鲜为人知的历史时刻。他们独特而出人意料的关系是读者永远不会忘记的。” ——帕姆·杰诺夫(Pam Jenoff),纽约时报畅销书《有蓝星的女人》作者


  • “《上海最后的玫瑰》生动地描绘了东西方的冲突,犹太难民逃离希特勒的柏林,前往遥远的上海,在中国富豪和日本侵略者的不安共处中挣扎求生。戴微娜 (Weina Dai Randel) 的凄美的爱情故事生动地描绘了一幅鲜为人知的二战历史。不容错过!” — 凯特·奎因 (Kate Quinn),纽约时报畅销书《玫瑰密码》和《女猎手》作者


  • “一部将读者带入1940年代上海的动人心弦的小说,《上海最后的玫瑰》是历史小说爱好者的必读。小说充满了悬念,亦是凄美难忘的爱情故事。戴微娜 (Weina Dai Randel)让读者完全沉浸在这个细节丰富、情节有力的故事中。” —— 香奈儿·克里顿(Chanel Cleeton),纽约时报和今日美国畅销书作家

Book Order


《上海最后的玫瑰》 一书可在Amazon.com购买,如有兴趣,请扫描二维码下单。


扫描二维码

购买 《上海最后的玫瑰》

The Last Rose of Shanghai

Author|戴微娜

定价|$16

www.weinarandel.com

Scroll to read English Version

Editor's Notes 


Every time I walk into the reading room of the Lexington Cary Library, the big bookshelf with well arranged books always attracts my attention and curiosity. "Celebrate Lexington's Authors - 150th Cary Memorial Library 1868 - 2018" is written on the wall behind the bookshelf. As it is well known, Lexington has more than 500 published authors who specialize in science, education, literature, history, economics, health, computer science and other fields, and the library houses more than 1,500 books written by Lexington residents, an invaluable resource for many of us.


ReadLexington features the local writers who live amongst us. They are our neighbors, friends and mentors. They appear distant yet are so close to us. ReadLexington aims to promote books written by Lexingtonians,  offers readers a glimpse of authors' creative process and daily life, and encourages everyone to read their books. It is published in both English and Chinese.


Summer afternoon-summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful  words in the English language.

             - An International Episode            Writer, Henry James.  


Let us pick a beautiful summer afternoon, and read a book by Lexingtonians together!


 

Jessie


Author Weina Dai Randel


Weina Dai Randel is the award-winning author of three novels, The Last Rose of Shanghai, The Moon in the Palace and The Empress of Bright Moon, a historical duology about Wu Zetian, China’s only female emperor. Weina is the winner of the RWA RITA Award, a National Jewish Book Awards finalist, a Goodreads Choice Award semifinalist, and a RT Book Reviewers Choice Award nominee. Her books have been translated into eleven foreign languages.


Weina’s new novel, The Last Rose of Shanghai (12/1/21), tells an impossible love story between a wealthy Chinese nightclub owner and a penniless Jewish pianist who fled to Shanghai from Nazi Germany.



Born in China, Weina came to the United States at twenty-four, when she switched to English and began to speak, write and dream in her second language. She holds an MA in English from Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas. She has worked as the subject-matter expert for Southern New Hampshire University’s MFA program and as an adjunct professor for Eastfield College. 


Interviews with Weina have appeared on WFAA’s Good Morning Texas and in such publications as World Literature Today, China Daily, The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Review of Books, New York City Post, and RT Book Reviews. After living in Texas for years, Weina now resides in Boston with her loving husband, two children, and a family of chipmunks in the backyard.


 

“I want to build a bridge with readers so they can understand that Chinese, Chinese Americans, and Asian Americans in this country are individuals with dread and dreams. I want to take readers on an intimate journey with an engaging story set in an immersive world rich with cultures, history, and identifiable characters.” 


-- Weina Dai Randel


Interviewed by 

ReadLexington


  • How many novels have you published so far?


    I’ve published three novels, The Last Rose of Shanghai  (2021) and the historical duology The Moon in the Palace (2016) and The Empress of Bright Moon (2016), biographical novels about the first and only female emperor Wu Zetian. 


  • Can you tell me about The LAST ROSE OF SHANGHAI? What is it about?


    The Last Rose of Shanghai tells a forbidden love story between an upper-class Chinese nightclub owner and a penniless Jewish refugee who fled from Nazi Germany to Shanghai. It’s set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai between 1940 to 1945. The reviews have said it’s a sweeping epic that transcends race, class, tradition, religion, and war.


  • Why did you choose to write this historical novel? 


    I was born and raised in China; at twenty four, I immigrated to the US. Before that, I lived in Shanghai for five years in my early twenties. Today, I still have fond memories of life there, biking to work, bargaining for clothes, savoring curry chicken at the night market, and some not-so-fond memories, such as being pick-pocketed on the street, fear of failing to pay for the bus fare, and being evicted by the landlord. All the excitement and annoyances of living in a metropolitan city as a young, struggling single woman living paycheck to paycheck. In Shanghai, I grew fascinated with the city’s Haipai culture, the multicultural mix, and the lasting foreign presence seen in the art deco, Gothic, Baroque architecture, and the tale that the locals tossed loaves of bread into the alleys to feed the Jewish refugees during WWII, which I still remember years later.


    But I didn’t look into this history until a friend suggested I write a story of Jews in Shanghai. That was in 2018, two years after I published The Empress of Bright Moon duology, and I was ready for another project. Since I was going to host a bat mitzvah, I thought it would be a good idea to honor my family’s Jewish heritage.


    As a historical novel writer, I was also aware that despite a plethora of novels about WWII published today, most books were set in Europe, and few described the war in the Pacific Theater, the plight of the Chinese people, or the atrocities committed by the Japanese, a member of the Axis powers. The truth is that WWII brought destruction on many levels and devastated many corners of the world. Amid this heartbreaking devastation, when many people’s lives hung in the balance in Shanghai, about 18,000 Jews fled Nazi Germany, landed in Shanghai, and survived the war. Few people know about this little-known piece of history, including my Jewish relatives.


  • What are the stories that you enjoy to writing?


    Stories about extraordinary people who have done extraordinary things fascinate me! And I’m especially interested in crafting Chinese and Asian American characters. These characters might be strong, or vulnerable, but they are all unique, relatable, and flawed in some way.  I also tend to thread the historical events with the characters so readers will have a sense of the history; it’s my goal to bring the past alive in a dramatic and cathartic way.  


  • How long on average does it take you to write a book?


    It took me three years and six months to write The Last Rose of Shanghai, ten years to write the first novel, The Moon in the Palace, and two years on the sequel, The Empress of Bright Moon. So on average, I’d say it takes me approximately three years to write a novel. I wish I could speed up, but I’m a slow writer, known as a revision addict, to use the phrase my relative crowned me.


  • What is your next book? When will it be published? 


    I am writing a new book called Night Angels, a WWII novel set in Vienna, tells a heroic story of a diplomatic couple who risked their lives to rescue the Jews in Vienna by issuing them life-saving visas. The novel is based on Dr. Ho Fengshan, the Chinese diplomat who was honored as an Righteous Among the Nations. It will be published on Feb 14, 2023.

Book Description


In Japanese-occupied Shanghai, two people from different cultures are drawn together by fate and the freedom of music...



1940. Aiyi Shao is a young heiress and the owner of a formerly popular and glamorous Shanghai nightclub. Ernest Reismann is a penniless Jewish refugee driven out of Germany, an outsider searching for shelter in a city wary of strangers. He loses nearly all hope until he crosses paths with Aiyi. When she hires Ernest to play piano at her club, her defiance of custom causes a sensation. His instant fame makes Aiyi's club once again the hottest spot in Shanghai. Soon they realize they share more than a passion for jazz—but their differences seem insurmountable, and Aiyi is engaged to another man.


As the war escalates, Aiyi and Ernest find themselves torn apart, and their choices between love and survival grow more desperate. In the face of overwhelming odds, a chain of events is set in motion that will change both their lives forever.


From the electrifying jazz clubs to the impoverished streets of a city under siege, The Last Rose of Shanghai is a timeless, sweeping story of love and redemption.


 Review

  

  • “Fans of sweeping, dramatic WWII epics that are rich in historical detail, such as Lisa See’s Shanghai Girls or Paullina Simons’s The Bronze Horseman will be enthralled.” —Booklist


  • “Weina Dai Randel’s novel deserves a place of distinction among WWII fiction.” —Historical Novel Society


  • “This audiobook touches on the unexplored Jewish community in Shanghai and the difficulties of engaging in cross-cultural relationships at that time.” – AudioFile


  • “The Last Rose of Shanghai is a powerful story of the relationship between a Shanghai heiress and a Jewish refugee, set against the backdrop of a nightclub in China on the eve of the Second World War. Weina Dai Randel skillfully shines a light on a little-known moment in history through the lens of two vividly drawn characters whose unique and unexpected relationship is one readers will never forget.” —Pam Jenoff, New York Times bestselling author of The Woman with the Blue Star


  • “The Last Rose of Shanghai vividly depicts the clash of East and West as Jewish refugees flee Hitler’s Berlin for faraway Shanghai, where they struggle to survive amid the uneasy coexistence of Chinese magnates and Japanese invaders. Weina Dai Randel’s poignant, sweeping love story paints a vibrant portrait of a little-known slice of World War II history. Not to be missed!” —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code and The Huntress


  • “A sweeping novel that transports readers to 1940s Shanghai, The Last Rose of Shanghai is a must-read for historical fiction lovers. Filled with page-turning suspense and a poignant and unforgettable love story, Weina Dai Randel wholly immerses the reader in this richly detailed and powerfully drawn story.” —Chanel Cleeton, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author

Awards

  • National Jewish Book Awards Finalist

  • Bustle's one of Most Anticipated Novels in December of 2021

  • WildChina Book Club’s Best Historical Fiction on China in 2021

  • Undemosticated’s Best Fiction in 2021


Cary Memorial Library Event 


Receiving the RITA Award at RWA Conference, 2017


Book signing at Barnes and Noble 

Receiving congratulations from a fellow writer

Sonali Dev



Book Order


The Last Raod of Shanghai can be purchase from www.amazon.com. 


Scan QR Code

Purchase Book

The Last Rose of Shanghai

Weina Dai Randel

Price|$16

www.weinarandel.com

Acknowledgment


A Special Thank You to the Cary Library and it's staffs for the tremendous support and collaboration!


Find this title and others by Lexington Authors at the Cary Library


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書語萊鎮




書語萊鎮编辑部:鱼儿 戴微娜 

袁睿翕 Elizabeth Xu

封面设计:袁力

策划 & 封面摄影:鱼儿

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