Farewell, Shanghai

Praise

“A sweeping cinematic melodrama that depicts an exotic and little-known chapter of Jewish history…the panoramic story of Farewell, Shanghai alights upon all of the city’s wartime social strata, with vivid characters whose activities—including epic gestures of romance, espionage, and betrayal—necessarily sidestep the good/evil dichotomy…compelling.” —The Nation

“Like an epic movie director from Hollywood’s Golden Age, Angel Wagenstein takes as the subject of his new novel nothing less than humanity…A sprawling and utterly engaging book.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“Wagenstein intelligently interweaves the voices of several characters, whose common thread is their desire to live in safety. Winner of the 2004 Jean Monnet Award, this novel sheds light on a forgotten part of history that is only now becoming known. Recommended.” —Library Journal

“Moving effortlessly from Paris to Dresden to Shanghai, Wagenstein masterfully chronicles the lives of European émigrés and refugees in WWII Shanghai…Impressive in his ability to move from the small details of individual displaced lives to a larger panorama of international intrigue…Wagenstein brings to life a largely unknown chapter of Nazi persecution.” —Publishers Weekly

“Farewell, Shanghai captures this political and cultural maelstrom during World War II. Vividly written, paced like a thriller and rich with cinematic detail, the reader can practically smell the fetid, swampy air of the city. Wagenstein’s smoothly translated and fluid narrative has a sardonic edge…The riveting story of the Jews in Shanghai in the 1930s and ’40s might seem hardly credible, but as Wagenstein archly says, ‘Is there anything more implausible than History?’” —Moment

“Wagenstein is one of Bulgaria’s greatest modern writers. In Farewell, Shanghai, he has constructed a fascinating and profoundly moving roman à clef…a worthy edition to the stories true and just short of true that chronicle human destinies strewn like flotsam and jetsam in the great storm of World War II.” —The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)

“Gripping…A fascinating story that effectively tells about the tragic events that beset those Jews who managed to reach Shanghai in 1938 and 1939 before World War II began.” —National Jewish Post

“Based on real people and terrifyingly true events, Wagenstein’s gripping tale (and its excellent translation into English) exposes the less-discussed but just as horrific history of the Nazi regime in China.” —Historical Novels Review

“Farewell Shanghai is a major contribution to the literature about World War II and an outstanding novel.” —The Reporter (Broome County, NY)

“Vividly cinematic…A profound examination of the radically different ways humans react to moral challenges.” —The Tennessean

“Mr. Wagenstein has done his research well and the reader soon feels he is part of the city during the years of World War II. Farewell, Shanghai is an exciting read, a description of passion, courage, weakness, and the ultimate irony of life and death.” —Washington Times

“Brings a new and moving dimension to our knowledge of the Holocaust.” —Jewish Book World