The Sapphire Child

The Sapphire Child is the sequel to The Emerald Affair. It is part of a trilogy that takes place in India during the British Raj era. The sequel concerns the same characters as well as their progeny. The book is chunky with its 515 pages and qualifies for the Big Book Summer Challenge as well as the Color Coded and Historical Fiction Challenges.

The publisher's summary:  

In 1930s Northern India, childhood friends Stella and Andrew have grown up together in the orbit of the majestic Raj Hotel. Spirited Stella has always had a soft spot for boisterous Andrew, though she dreams of meeting a soulmate from outside the close-knit community. But life is turned on its head when one scandal shatters their friendship and another sees her abandoned by the man she thought she loved.

As the Second World War looms, Andrew joins the army to fight for freedom. Meanwhile in India, Stella, reeling from her terrible betrayal, also throws herself into the war effort, volunteering for the Women’s Auxiliary Corps, resigned to living a lonelier life than the one she dreamed of as a child.

When Andrew returns to the East on the eve of battle with Japan, the two former friends are reunited, though bitter experience has changed them. Can they rekindle what they once had or will war demand of their friendship the ultimate sacrifice?

The Sapphire Child is a captivating and sumptuous novel. It is well researched with vivid descriptions of an India of yesteryear. The weather descriptions were spot on. I could feel the oppressive humidity. The pungent smell of spices were fully described. I was totally lost in this exotic setting. I didn't expect that the book would be better than The Emerald Affair but it is way more entertaining than Emerald. 

This novel was much more emotional than the Emerald Affair. I had my heart in my hands from start to finish. I worried about Stella the most. Stella was taken advantage of by just about everyone. She is a sweet woman so it always felt wrong for her to be mistreated. Esme and Tom held second place but as the plot unfolded I got tired of Tom’s depression and outbursts. Lydia, Andrew’s mother, was the villain. You knew she would hurt everyone around her and she did. When Andrew grew up he joined the army. His exploits during WWII were intense. We read alot about the progress of the war. I think Andrew was one of the most mature characters in the story, with the exception of the easy-going Esme. 

Childhood friends Stella and Andrew grew up together in the majestic Raj Hotel, owned by Andrew's father Tom Lomax.  Stella has always had a soft spot for Andrew, but she dreams of meeting a soulmate. She gets reacquainted with a man she met on the ship from Scotland to India. Hugh Keating seems to be the perfect man. He's attractive, suave, and available. Hugh proposes but avoids conversations about getting married so I knew he was too good to be true. He had both me and Stella fooled. Much more happened between these two but I don't want to be a spoiler. Suffice to say this relationship was heart-wrenching.

The Sapphire Child was enjoyable from beginning to end. I am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

Big Book Summer Challenge

I love chunky books. When I saw that there is a new reading challenge concentrating on them I had to join in on the fun.

Rules:

1.  Anything 400 pages or more qualifies as a big book.

2.  The challenge runs from the Friday of Memorial Day weekend (May 22 this year) through Labor Day (September 7 this year).

3.  Choose one or two or however many big books you want as your goal. Wait, did you get that? You only need to read 1 book with 400+ pages this summer to participate! (though you are welcome to read more, if you want).

4.  If you are a blogger or YouTuber and want to share your Big Book Summer plans, book reviews, or wrap-ups, you can add your link(s) to the links list in the challenge post so others can find you (it will remain open until September 30). If you post a YouTube video for Big Book Summer, please tag Melinda (@awebofstories) and I (@SueJacksonDE), so we can visit and share it with others.

5.  Join the 2026 Big Book Summer Goodreads group to enjoy Big Book discussions all summer long! Or if you prefer, join the Big Book Summer Storygraph group and/or Big Book Summer Storygraph Challenge

6.  For chatting on other social media platforms, use #BigBookSummer

7.  What kind of   books "count"? All kinds! Middle-grade, YA, graphic novels, classics, all genres, all types as long as they are at least 400 pages. Yes, e-books and audio books count, too--just check online for the number of pages in the print edition.  

I am currently reading The Sapphire Child (515) by Janet Macleod Trotter and plan on reading All This and More by Peng Shepherd (472) sometime this month.  Later in the summer I plan on reading Joseph Finder's The Oligarch's Daughter (440), Canticle by Janet Rich Edwards (412), The Calamity by Kathryn Stockett (640). Last month I picked up an 840 page fantasy novel The Priory of the Orange Tree. I don’t know if I will have time to finish the novel though. The Daughters of Shandong (400) and The Young Will Remember (448) both written by Eve Chung are also on my tbr list.

Ice Cold Body

I selected this book for the What's in a Name Challenge. I needed a book title that referenced cold weather. Icy Cold Body is a cozy mystery set in Alaska and is the first book in a five book (to date) series by Kelli Fudge. The Snowy Alaskan Murder Mystery series features Maggie Calloway as an amateur sleuth. 

The publisher's summary:  

She came to Alaska for peace. Her cat found a killer.

Retired schoolteacher Margaret "Maggie" Calloway traded her Ohio life for a cozy cabin in remote Frosthaven, Alaska. With her enormous cat, Kodiak, by her side, she dreamed of quiet days amid breathtaking wilderness. But on the first big snowfall, Kodiak drags her to Frosthaven Lake—where the ice-entombed body of beloved fish hatchery owner Earl Benton stares up from below.

The sheriff calls it a tragic accident. Maggie spots the truth: Earl's boots are bone dry. He didn't drown—he was placed there. As Maggie digs into Frosthaven's secrets—over diner coffee, in dusty archives, and among tight-lipped neighbors—she uncovers land disputes, buried grudges, and a missing deed worth a fortune. Someone will kill to keep it hidden.

With a blizzard sealing the town off and 300 suspects snowed in, Maggie and Kodiak race the storm. Clues are vanishing under feet of snow, and the killer knows she's closing in.

I loved this story! Maggie discovered a frozen body on the lake and was struck by the deceased's boots being dry. I never figured out how this could happen because the entire body was in the lake. It was never explained either. However, the story moved along at a quick pace and I kept reading. Initially, there weren't many characters introduced. There was basically Maggie and her cat Kodiak. About the midway point in the story we are introduced to town archivist Harriet Voss, Leland Gruber, owner of the Trading Post diner, Sheriff Miller and a few secondary characters. 

Harriet and Maggie became a team. They researched the belief among Frosthaven's citizens that their lakefront could not be developed. There were whispers that a deed from 1972 prohibited any development. Earl Benton, the deceased, was known to have proof. Together these two ladies solved the mystery of the deed as well as who killed Earl. Harriet and Maggie worked so well together that I think they will be the amateur sleuths in future releases of the series. 

Maggie's former career as a schoolteacher helped her deal with adversary characters. On almost every page Maggie is thinking back to her classroom and how she dealt with students, other teachers and school administration. She instinctively knew how to handle difficult people. It was fascinating to see how she was able to use her skills in a different setting.

I was surprised that the book only had 145 pages. I checked the page length of subsequent books in the series and they all were short. Despite this, the book followed the mystery formula to a T. It was an exciting novel. 5 out of 5 stars.

June Armchair Travel Plans

Next month I will be returning to India with the next book in Janet MacLeid Trotter's Raj Hotel historical fiction series. The Sapphire Child meets the requirements of two reading challenges:  the Color Coded and Historical Fiction Challenges.  Singapore is another stop I will make on my travels with The Singapore Secret by Clair Willis. Also, I will cross over the pond for Charles Finch's newest novel Midnight in the House of Commons. The book is the 16th Charles Lenox mystery. Last month I didn't get around to reading White River Crossing. It's a popular new book taking place in the sub-arctic Canada. Eve Chung's The Young Will Remember is set in China just after the end of the Cultural Revolution. 

My American travel includes Washington DC in the early 1800s to read The Editor's Daughter by K. A. Felstad. The Margin of Death is a financial crime thriller with a dual timeline. It connects 893 England with the current era in New York City.  Then we have Ice Cold Body, an Snowy Alaskan Murder Mystery by Kelli Fudge. This book is a cozy mystery. Favorite author Wanda Brunstetter will publish Melody of Love in a few days. Since this is an Amish fiction story it is set in the American Midwest. Finally, A River Red With Blood takes place in Maine’s Kennebec River Valley. Written by John Connolly it is a June 2026 new release. To complete my U. S. based armchair travel I will read Lisa See’s newest novel Daughters of the Sun and Moon. It takes place in post Civil War Los Angeles. I think this is a new, to me, setting for a Chinese immigrant story. I am looking forward to getting my hands on the book. It's going to be published next month.

Where are you traveling in June?

Captivating Character of the Month: May

My captivating character of the month is Debbie Mullen from Freida McFadden's Dear Debbie. Debbie is both the protagonist and the villain of the story. She writes an advice column for a local newspaper similar to the Dear Abby columns I read while growing up. 

When the story began Debbie was frequently featured at social events with friends. Nothing untoward was obvious. She attended a monthly book club with neighbors living on her block who openly disparaged her lack of class and higher education. Debbie desperately wants to fit in and accepts this mistreatment as necessary in order to climb the social ladder. Later these friends begin to ridicule her intense behavior behind her back. They gossip about rumors that she spent a few months in a psychiatric hospital. Yeah, Debbie is nuts.

Most of the chapters begin with drafts of her column wherein she suggests that the complaining women kill their husbands. The reader doesn't know if the drafts were eventually published until the halfway point in the story where we read she was fired for suggesting murder in a column that had been published. Debbie’s psycho behavior takes off from here. Anyone who hurt her husband or kids ended up dead. Debbie was always back in form the next day being way too cheerful and overdoing the housewife duties.

I agree with the revenge that Debbie plotted on her adversaries. They were definitely deserving of everything they received. Maybe I'm nuts too.

Book of the Month: May

After perusing the book reviews I wrote this month, I decided that there are only three options for my best book of the month. All three are them are graphic novels:  Do Admit by Mimi Pond, Tall Water by S J Sindu and This Place Kills Me by Mariko Tamaki. It seemed impossible to pick just one but I must select Do Admit because of the drawings in the book. I believe this graphic biography of the Mitford Sisters is a masterpiece! 

This biography is about the six Mitford sisters Nancy, Unity, Diana, Pam, Jessica and Deborah as well as the other members of their aristocratic family, and their geo-political influence on major events of the 1920s and 1930s. I did not know much about them before reading the book. The sisters knew many famous people of the twentieth century. Diana and Unity knew Adolf Hitler. Deborah became the Duchess of Devonshire. Other celebs in their orbit include William Faulkner, Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. The phrase "do admit" was one of the sisters' favorite sayings. 

What I loved the most about the book is the color palette. Another aesthetic I liked was the use of info-graphics for the narrative part of the story. I thought this was creative and enjoyed reading the narrative. The author used lines of text of different font sizes placed at different angles. She is a master of typology. The rest of the story was shown in whimsical illustrations all drawn in prussian blue ink.

It took the author six years to complete this 444 page book.  It is a MASTERPIECE and contender for my 2026 book of the year. It was published in September 2025. 

Book Cover of the Month: May

We'll Prescribe You Another Cat has an enchanting book cover of two cats in a prescription bottle. I love it! The cover design was created by Adam Auerbach. 

Auerbach is designer, illustrator, and art director from Brooklyn. He has over 15 years of experience in the publishing industry as both a children's book author and as an illustrator for other authors. You can see his work on his Instagram page and also on his webite.

 

The Once and Future Riot

This graphic novel investigates the 2013 Muzaffarnagar Riot that took place in India. Graphic journalist Joe Sacco examines the sectarian violence, crowd dynamics and competing narratives concerning the riot. The book was published in October 2025.

The publisher's summary: 

Compared to other episodes of lethal Indian communal violence, the clashes in Uttar Pradesh in 2013, the Muzaffarnagar Riot, were a relatively small-scale affair―some scores of people were killed and several tens of thousands displaced. It had happened before and will probably happen again: Hindus and Muslims, armed with guns and swords, riled up by vitriolic rhetoric and a tangle of accusations, turn on one another. The truth fragments along religious lines, both in the lead-up to the rampage and in its bloody aftermath.

In The Once and Future Riot, Joe Sacco immerses himself in Uttar Pradesh, speaking to government officials, political leaders, village chiefs, and especially the victims, who were mostly landless peasants, in a quest to understand this riot as an archetype of political violence. In the process, he probes the role of savagery in a democracy; the power of crowds, rather than leaders, to influence the course of events; the collision of competing narratives; and the accounts that perpetrators construct to explain away their participation in bloodshed.

Hailed as “the heir to R. Crumb and Art Spiegelman” (Economist), Sacco has chronicled the urgent histories that define the world around us, from the Great War to Gaza. Here, he turns his masterful visual reportage to a story that is specific to India but with implications and resonance for all precarious multiethnic, multiracial societies everywhere.

 After finishing the book I thought that one side had to be primarily at fault for the riot. I had some difficulty determinating which party held that fault so I re-read the book. I kept a cheat sheet detailing who did what in each village. It was an exercise in futility.

The root cause of all of the distrust between the Hindus and the Muslims was the Partition of 1947. The Partition forced Muslims to leave India and move to a new country, Pakistan, where they would be the majority population. Hindus no longer wanted Muslim neighbors even though Muslims were working on their farms. The economics of the Partition resulted in Hindu farm owners paying double the wages to anyone willing to work their farms. Muslims were too far away to labor for them. Before Partition Hindus and Muslims lived peacably side by side. Each faction respected the other. What a mistake it was.

The trigger of most of the clashes was mistreatment of women. The men would then kill the perpetrators but they would eventually be killed themselves in retaliation. The political and religious leaders were never able to prevent the violence and in many cases they did not want to stem the violence. Leaders on both sides fueled anger by spreading misinformation. Unfortunately, Muslims were forced to live in camps after Jat Hindus burned down their villages. The riot itself lasted a few days but violence seems to be a norm in Indian politics, hence the "future" riot. 

I enjoyed reading the book and learned alot about Indian politics. I felt the author's frustration as he traveled throughout the Uttar Pradesh region trying to obtain the truth. Very few people told him what really happened in their villages, preferring to tell him a narrative set by their personal politics. This was a difficult assignment for the author but he did well in telling the reader how he searched for answers on a daily basis.

5 out of 5 stars. 

Do Admit

The gorgeous color pallette of this graphic biography prompted me to read the book. I have read previous books by Mimi Pond so I knew it would be spectacular. The biography is about the six Mitford sisters Nancy, Unity, Diana, Pam, Jessica and Deborah as well as the other members of the aristocratic family, and their geo-political influence on major events of the 1920s and 1930s. The book won the 2026 Cartoonist Studio Prize for Long-form Comic from the Center for Cartoon Studies as well as the 2025 Graphic Novel Critics Poll. The title "Do Admit" is a favorite saying of the sisters. This 444 page book was published in September 2025.

The publisher's summary:

Born with pedigrees but without the pocketbooks to match, The Mitfords were certainly no strangers to lies, intrigue, or scandal. Nancy, Pamela, Diana, Unity, Jessica, and Deborah. All six sisters were weaned on their family’s well-documented upper class eccentricities: a ne’er do well would-be entrepreneur father; a stern, stiff-upper-lipped mother; a revolving door of governesses of varying propriety, all against the backdrop of a crumbling estate falling into disrepair.

The sisters grew from cloistered turn-of-the-century country girls into debutantes who would marry into political influence―for better or worse. Is it any wonder that a young, working class Mimi in Southern California becomes enamored with The Mitfords’ downright fanciful rich-and-famous lifestyle? This charming, inventively cartooned, and lovingly researched biography captures the dramatic, over-the-top antics of high society’s strongest personalities as they rubbed elbows with some of history’s most infamous fascists and communists.

Pond’s genius for classic cartooning in the vein of the Vanity Fair caricature and the satirical illustrations of Charles Addams brings the aesthetic decadence of the 1920s and ‘30s to life with effortless aplomb, warts and all.

I had heard the Mitford name before but knew nothing about the family. The book fills in all of the details of each of the sisters' lives who lived during the first half of the 20th century. I wondered why the author, Mimi Pond, decided to write about  them as I believe we are around the same age. How did she become interested in the family? Regardless, she wrote an entertaining and informative book about the sisters.

As I stated above, I loved the color palette. Another aesthetic I liked was the use of info-graphics for the narrative part of the story. I thought this was creative and enjoyed reading the narrative. The author used lines of text of different font sizes placed at different angles. She is a master of typology. The rest of the story was shown in whimsical illustrations. The copyright page states Pond owns the copyright to every part of the book. From this information it becomes apparent that she drew the illustrations and did the lettering in addition to writing the text. I hope Pond wins more awards for the book because it is fantastic. 

There are dozens of characters. We have the six sisters, two parents, many spouses, a few children, and many famous people inside the story. The Mitfords knew Hitler, Winston Churchill, Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy, and William Faulkner. Two of the sisters were fascists. Diana and Unity were deeply entrenched in the Nazi inner circle. Diana married Sir Oswald Mosley, founder of the British Union of Fascists. Unity became obsessed with Adolf Hitler, befriending him and remaining a dedicated follower in Germany. Hitler's records show he met with Unity 140 times. Jessica was a staunch communist and she moved to the U. S.  Deborah became the Duchess of Devonshire. Jessica and Deborah married nephews of prime ministers Winston Churchill and Harold Macmillan, respectively. Needless to say, these divergent political views created distance in their relationships with each other.

Do Admit is going to be in my top books for 2026. It is a masterpiece. 5 out of 5 stars.

Can't Wait Wednesday #49

This weekly meme is hosted by the Wishful Endings blog. The meme spotlights the books that we are excited about but have yet to read. Generally, they're books that have yet to be released.

Today I want to highlight a book that I plan to read next month for the Calendar of Crime Reading Challenge. A River Red With Blood will be published on June 2, 2026. It is part of the Charlie Parker series by John Connolly and takes place in Maine’s rural Kennebec River Valley. The plot is interesting. Two teen girls disappear and one of them attends a troubled teens school. Her body is later found in the water and the police assume that she has drowned. However, Detective Parker finds a connection between the two girls, one new and one ancient. I am particularly interested in the ancient connection and can't wait to find out what happened to the girls.

What book(s) are you anxiously awaiting to read?

The Housemaid is Watching

The Housemaid is Watching is the third book in the Housemaid trilogy and it's just as wonderful as the first two.  Its a psychological thriller with yet another twisty finish that surprised me. The story takes place ten years after the first novel and Millie Calloway returns with husband Enzo and their two kids. 

The publisher's summary: 

“You must be our new neighbors!” Mrs. Lowell gushes and waves across the picket fence. I clutch my daughter’s hand and smile back: but the second Mrs. Lowell sees my husband a strange expression crosses her face. In that moment I make a promise. We finally have a family home. My past is far, far behind us. And I’ll do anything to keep it that way…

I used to clean other people’s houses—now, I can’t believe this home is actually mine. The charming kitchen, the quiet cul-de-sac, the huge yard where my kids can play. My husband and I saved for years to give our children the life they deserve.

Even though I’m wary of our new neighbor Mrs. Lowell, when she invites us over for dinner it’s our chance to make friends. Her maid opens the door wearing a white apron, her hair in a tight bun. I know exactly what it’s like to be in her shoes. But her cold stare gives me chills…

The Lowells’ maid isn’t the only strange thing on our street. I’m sure I see a shadowy figure watching us. My husband leaves the house late at night. And when I meet a woman who lives across the way, her words chill me to the bone: Be careful of your neighbors.

Did I make a terrible mistake moving my family here? I thought I’d left my darkest secrets behind. But could this quiet suburban street be the most dangerous place of all?

Millie and Enzo have two nosy, annoying neighbours. Suzette Lowell cannot stop flirting with Enzo and Millie is jealous. The neighbor across the street, Janice, is the neighborhood spy. She spends the entire day and night looking in everyone's windows with her binoculars. The Lowells have a maid, Martha, with Thursdays open and Suzette talks Enzo into hiring her even though the Accardis cannot afford it. 

Millie and Enzo have two kids, eleven year old Ada and nine year old Nico. Ada is quiet but Nico has tons of energy. Millie repeats several times that she is obsessed with her new house and that the mortgage payments are too high for her to pay. She also has quite a few internal thoughts about her husband maybe cheating on her. Why repeat these two items?  It seemed unusual for McFadden to repeat any information in a novel. It felt odd as I was reading. In addition, Millie's usual housemaid activities are not written into this novel. It made me confused until the ending. 

Who was the villain?  There were a few possibilities. Suzette, Janice and Martha were the characters I was thinking about. The identity of the whodunnit wasn't revealed until the ending but all three characters were suggested throughout the story. 

I had a few issues with the writing.  The formula used in the prior two books in the series was not followed. This reduced the suspense factor during my read. While the ending tied up all of the loose ends, it was not as shocking as the earlier novels. Unfortunately, I have to reduce my rating of the book to 4 out of 5 stars.

Honey in the Wound

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Honey in the Wound is the debut novel of Jiyoung Han. The story is about a Korean family confronting the brutality of the Japanese empire. The Japanese occupied Korea and parts of China during this era. It's an epic tale of five generations of one family. It was published on April 7, 2026.

The publisher's summary:

A sister disappears and returns as a tiger. A mother’s voice compels the truth from any tongue. A granddaughter divines secrets in others’ dreams. These women are all of one lineage—a Korean family split across decades and borders by Japanese imperialism.

At this saga’s heart is Young-Ja, a girl who infuses food with her emotions. She revels in her gift for cooking, nourishing the people she loves with her cheerfulness. But her sunny childhood comes to an end in 1931 when Japanese soldiers crush her family’s defiance against the Empire. Young-Ja is cast adrift, her food turning increasingly bitter with grief. When a Korean rebel fighter notices her talents, however, she is whisked off to Manchuria to join a secretive sisterhood of beautiful teahouse spies. There, Young-Ja finds a new sense of belonging and starts using her abilities for the resistance. But the Imperial Army is not yet finished with her…

Decades later, Young-Ja lives alone in Seoul, withdrawn from the world until her Tokyo-born granddaughter Rinako bursts into her life with the ability to see into dreams. In cultivating a tentative bond, they confront the long-buried past in a stunning emotional climax.

As an unforgettable family perseveres in the long shadow of colonialism, Honey in the Wound transports readers to mountain forests where tiger-girls stalk, to Manchurian teahouses and opium dens where charming smiles veil secrets, and to the modern metropolises of Tokyo and Seoul where restless ghosts stir. This debut novel is a tender yet powerful multi-generational drama that shines light onto the twentieth century’s darkest corners and gives voice to those who bore witness.

I found writing my review of this book was difficult. So much happened that I didn't know where to start. It's an emotional story for sure and I felt that my emotions were overwhelmed. Heart-wrenching is the best word to describe the book. The story centers on Young-Ja, whose ability to cook her emotions into food was her superpower as a youth. This is where the magical realism joins the plot. When her family was executed by Japanese soldiers, Young-Ja ran and hid. She was lucky to survive but her overwhelming grief made her susceptible to corrupt men. Right after Young-Ja's family passed away, she was found unconscious near a lake. A barren couple took her in and treated her as their own. Young-Ja stayed with them for several years but when the husband began sexually assaulting her during the night, the wife gave her to a man who offered Young-Ja a fantastic job in China. 

The job was not fantastic. Young-Ja was forced to work long hours in a tea house kitchen in the northern area of Korea.  However, she thrived there and was promoted to hostess in the tea rooms. She and her fellow hostesses and servers listened to conversations that Japanese soldiers had among themselves. This information was given to people in the resistance movement. After nine years, the Japanese arrested the tea house owner and burned it to the ground. Unfortunately, Young-Ja ended being kidnapped and taken to Manchuria to be a comfort woman for Japanese soldiers. Her life gets even worse.

This is a sad story but realistic for the time and place. The author did a fine job writing about this unknown event in history. She showed how horribly the Koreans were treated by the Japaneses soldiers. Young-Ja's life affected me deeply. I mourned with her every time something bad happened to her. 

All of the characters were well developed. Young-Ja's grandparents had an interesting backstory. I loved reading about them. Her grandmother Myoung-Ok toiled as a farmer. When Myoung-OK eventually married Dahn, who was considered a giant by the villagers, she left her agrarian existence and moved to the mountains with him. There they gave birth to twins. Geum-Jin married Song Jung-Soon even though she had a facial disfigurement. They raised several children including Young-Ja. Their story was also intriguing and one of the best parts of the book. 

While Honey in the Wound is a good book, I don't know if I should recommend it. It made me sad for about a week after I finished reading. Who wants to deal with that! My rating of 5 out of 5 stars reflects the fantastic research that went into the story as well as the writing of this saga.

The Porcelain Maker's Daughter

The Porcelain Maker’s Daughter is a historical romance novel that is based on a true story about a sunken ship. The Tec Sing (True Star) was a large three mast Chinese junk that sank in 1822. It contained a massive cargo of porcelain and 2,000 people. Only 200 survived.

The publisher's summary:

Southern China, 1822. Looking to marry her off to a wealthy Indonesian merchant, Cheng Yafang’sfather arranges for her voyage aboard the Tek Sing—the largest trading vessel ever to sail the South China Sea. For Yafang, the second daughter in a family of master porcelain artists, there is no greater honor: a way to safeguard her family business and secure her future. But as she boards the mighty ship containing hundreds of thousands of her family’s finest porcelain, her heart—and the ship itself—harbors a secret that defies generations of tradition.

From a young age, He Zuyao was raised to hate the Chengs. After decades of rivalry rooted in their mastery of the art of porcelain-making, their disdain had grown into a bitter feud. But when he sees Yafang accosted by robbers on her way home, Zuyao doesn’t think twice before risking his life to defend her. Despite their heritage, Zuyao and Yafang vow to marry each other—a love that blossoms in the most unexpected of places.

But after Zuyao discovers her arranged marriage, their vow is pushed to a breaking point. When disaster strikes the He household and a legendary Guanyin statue is stolen, Zuyao follows its trail to the Tek Sing. Hoping to find the lost family heirloom and reunite with the woman he loves, Zuyao stows away on the ship. As the Tek Sing departs, a tragedy unfolds in the shadows of its bow. And even if they make it to the new land—can they really sacrifice their families’ honor for something as lowly as love?

Based on the true story of the “Oriental Titanic,” The Porcelain Maker’s Daughter is a moving, unputdownable saga. An immersive historical experience surrounding one of the greatest tragedies of 19th-century China.

While the book was enchanting, it was a slow read. I can't put my finger on what was the problem. I only know that I could only read it in small doses and then I started reading other books, always returning to this one. The story has a Romeo and Juliet plot. Yafang is the main character. She was born into a family of master artisans and carried both the weight of expectation and the burning desire to only marry if she was in love. She was normally quiet, respectful and reserved but could scream at her father when he discussed her future marriage to a wealthy man that she never met. Yafang was known in her community as trustworthy. I found her to be very sympathetic. Her boyfriend He Zuyao had a similar personality. They made a great couple but the He family was not rich. Also, the He and Cheng families had a long standing feud that could not be disrupted. It would anger the ancestors so the plot is definitely the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet. 

The backdrop of their families being master porcelain artists was interesting to read about. I wish that there had been more of it. The descriptions of clay, firing, painting, and the translucent glazes are outstanding. These details serve not just as setting but also symbolically reflect Yafang's own internal transformation. She is fired by life challenges, shaped by relationships, and finally emerges as something beautiful.

As in real life, the Tec Sing sank in the novel, killing 1800 people. The number of people who died was 300 more than those who died on the Titanic. Most of the characters in the beginning of the story were on the ship. Some were saved, others weren't. If you want to know if your favorite character survived, read the book.  

It's nice to read a story about characters who pursue goodness and kindness. I enjoyed the story tremendously and am rating it 4 out of 5 stars.