Stop by the Rookery Books t
able to purchase novels and get them signed by your favourite author as a
memento of this thrilling evening.
From bestsel
ling authors Janie Chang and Kate Quinn\, comes The Phoenix Crown\, a thrilling and unfor
gettable narrative about the intertwined lives of two wronged women\, span
ning from the chaos of the San Francisco earthquake to the glittering pala
ces of Versailles.
San Francisco\, 1906. In a city bustling wit
h newly minted millionaires and scheming upstarts\, two very different wom
en hope to change their fortunes: Gemma\, a golden-haired\, silver-voiced
soprano whose career desperately needs rekindling\, and Suling\, a petite
and resolute Chinatown embroideress who is determined to escape an arrange
d marriage. Their paths cross when they are drawn into the orbit of Henry
Thornton\, a charming railroad magnate whose extraordinary collection of C
hinese antiques includes the fabled Phoenix Crown\, a legendary relic of B
eijing&rsquo\;s fallen Summer Palace.
His patronage offers Gemma a nd Suling the chance of a lifetime\, but their lives are thrown into turmo il when a devastating earthquake rips San Francisco apart and Thornton dis appears\, leaving behind a mystery reaching further than anyone could have imagined... until the Phoenix Crown reappears five years later at a sumpt uous Paris costume ball\, drawing Gemma and Suling together in one last de sperate quest for justice.
\nKate Quinn \ ;is the \;New York Times \;and \;USA Today \;bestselling a uthor of historical fiction. A native of Southern California\, she attende d Boston University\, where she earned bachelor&rsquo\;s and master&rsquo\ ;s degrees in classical voice. A lifelong history buff\, she has written f our novels in the Empress of Rome Saga and two books set in the Italian Re naissance before turning to the 20th century with \;The Alice Network\ , \;The Huntress\, \;The Rose Code\, \;and \;The Diamond E ye. All have been translated into multiple languages. She and her husband now live in California with three black rescue dogs.
\nBorn in Taiwa n\, \;Janie Chang \;has lived in the Phil ippines\, Iran\, Thailand\, New Zealand\, and Canada. She writes historica l fiction\, often drawing from family history and ancestral stories. She h as a degree in computer science and is a graduate of the Writer&rsquo\;s S tudio Program at Simon Fraser University. She is the author of \;Three Souls\, \;Dragon Springs \;Road\, and \;The Library of Legend s.
\n
This event's moderator\, Janet Somerville\, taught literature for twenty years. Her book about pioneering war corr
espondent Martha Gellhorn\, Yours\, for Probably Always\, was a Book of th
e Day for The Guardian. How Midsummer Night\, her memoir of friendship and
loss is out in April 2024. She contributes frequently to the \;Toront
o Star book pages and loves to interview authors on stage.
\;
\nCOST: Free
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