Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang-a network of criminals far above the law. The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery.Ī blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. (Nov.Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Historical, ParanormalĪ complimentary physical copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. A lush, wholly original debut that will satiate Shakespeare aficionados and draw those seeking an engrossing, multifaceted historical fantasy. Gong’s incisive retelling imbues a thoroughly modern richness, with arresting prose and an inclusive cast.
But with colonial and communist tensions rising within Shanghai and “a strange madness”-linked to a rumored river monster-compelling men on every side to tear out their own throats, former lovers Roma and Juliette must reunite and surmount the bad blood between them if they have any hope of saving their city. Meanwhile, Roma, 19, has never regained favor in his father’s eyes after the bloody attack that wrested Roma from Juliette’s good graces four years previously. Freshly returned from New York City, 18-year-old Juliette struggles to be respected as the heir of the Scarlets, since cultural sexism deems her hotheaded cousin Tyler, also 18, more worthy of deference.
This mesmeric fantastical reinterpretation of Romeo and Juliet nestles the star-crossed lovers-renamed Roma Montagov and Juliette Cai-in an atmospheric mid-1920s Shanghai, where the Russian Montagovs, head of the White Flowers, and the Chinese Cais, head of the Scarlet Gang, have been embroiled in an age-old blood feud.
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