ARC provided by the publisher for review
History with a dash of mystery that holds a mirror up to life in 1906 San Francisco as it actually was. The Phoenix Crown is a page turner with richly drawn characters. And it’s another great example of how powerful adding another lens on history can be.
While the story initially focuses on Gemma, a down on her luck opera singer, and Suling, a Chinese American embroideress, their world expands to include an artist and a botanist at the Cal Academy. Gemma and Suling’s stories intertwine and their fortunes change thanks to Henry Thornton, a railroad magnate and collector of Chinese antiquities, including the Phoenix Crown. The San Francisco earthquake turns everything upside down and Thornton mysteriously disappears. The Phoenix Crown turns up years later in Paris, bringing the women back together unexpectedly.
Ordinarily, historical fiction would tell Gemma’s story in a vacuum. A white woman from the midwest with the voice of an angel goes to San Francisco for her shot at stardom. Would I have enjoyed that book? Probably. But it’s the added lens of Suling’s story that provides a more expansive view. Chinese Americans are fully fledged people with their own hopes, dreams, loves, and losses. And not only do you get Chinese American rep, you also get queer rep.
And for me, that’s what makes The Phoenix Crown so enjoyable.
One of the things that resonated with me is Suling’s story is a first generation American story that starts in 1906. Too often people forget that some of our families have been here for generations. It’s the beginning for those of us who are 4th and 5th generation Americans today. My great grandparents immigrated from Japan. My grandmother was the first generation born here (though we consider that Nisei, or second generation). This is the generation who spoke English fluently. Suling observes and articulates how some white people in SF regarded Chinatown and Chinese Americans. And in Suling, I saw my grandma. Someone who was a go-between two worlds.
The 1906 earthquake was a huge turning point that forever changed the face of San Francisco. At the same time, so much is the same 118 years later. Quinn and Chang paint a vivid picture of the City, so if you’ve worked/lived in the Bay, you get plenty of details to make the city recognizable.
My only nit is that the story wraps up super fast. The majority of the book runs up to the earthquake as the flashpoint and then the women scatter to the wind. Once they’re brought back together, I could have gone for a little less time in SF and a little more in Paris.
4 stars
The Phoenix Crown is out February 13, 2024 with book tour stops including Corte Madera, San Diego, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore. The full list of stops is available here.
Content Notes: Grief, racism, chronic migraines, physical abuse, involuntary commitment to an asylum
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