Gemma an and Suling are miles apart in privilege and careers. But their lives intersect in 1906 in San Francisco when they bit meet Henry, a railroad magnate. Then the devastating earthquake hits, and Henry disappears with a famous Chinese artifact. When the artifact, The Phoenix Crown, reappear five years later, the two women seek justice.

This book will draw you in and keep you turning the pages. It’s great.

I was so disappointed in this book. I usually love everything Kate Quinn and I was so excited for this book to be published. I couldn't even finish it. Big letdown.

I just love Kate Quinn. The characters you fall in love with, the rich history, and even the somewhat predictable plot outline- the big reveal and confrontation at the end after some time has passed. Janie Chang added a richness with Suling, and things I’d never known or considered before, proving how important it is to tell all facets of a culture’s story. Even with seeing a slightly formulaic pattern- I LOVED IT. I need to not be totally surprised by books and this story is lovely, well-written and researched, and above all it makes you feel things. Go forth and read!

Kate Quinn? Slam the request button!!!

Most of Quinn's books that I've read have taken place during WW2 so it was a surprise to be reading something outside of that time frame (I haven't read any of her novels from The Borgias or Empress of Rome series so my experience is limited!!). There are two parts to this book --- Before... and After. The main event? The devasting San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and the fires that followed. Through the eyes of four diverse women—Gemma, a spirited Nebraskan opera diva; Suling, a skilled Chinese American embroiderer; Nellie, a free-spirited Bohemian painter; and Alice, a renowned botanist (who was a real historical figure)—we're drawn into a tapestry of ambition, betrayal, and resilience. Their lives intersect under the patronage of the enigmatic entrepreneur Henry Thornton, whose prized possession, is the Phoenix Crown--the title of the novel!

After the earthquake, Thornton disappears and the women scatter to various parts of the globe. It's only when the Phoenix Crown arrives in Paris, that the women come together to seek the justice they so desperately deserve. (You'll need to read to find out!!)

What I loved:
- A compelling ensemble of strong, determined women, driving the narrative forward
- Despicable antagonist adding layers of tension and intrigue.
- Skillful integration of historical figures like Alice Eastwood and Caruso (an Italian opera singer), enriching the narrative with authenticity.
- Vivid description of some Chinese antiquities -- the phoenix crown, the dragon robe to name a few
- Globetrotting -- San Francisco, Northern California, Argentina, France

Although I hadn't previously delved into Janie Chang's works, experiencing these two authors side by side has firmly placed her on my must-read list. The seamlessness of their storytelling is nothing short of amazing!

Thank you Netgalley, Kate Quinn, Janie Chang and William Morrow for an advanced e-copy of this book. I'm a bit behind -- so you can grab your copy now!!!

I was excited to pick up The Phoenix Crown because I had read books by both authors before and thoroughly enjoyed them. I expected that combined, they would write a stunning, richly historical tale, but alas, that was not the case.

1906. This may very well be Gemma Garland’s last chance. A soprano who has been on stage for over a decade but is still working the chorus, she has all but given up on her dreams of stardom when she arrives in San Francisco. The good news is that she will be sharing the stage with Enrico Caruso, an honor even if she won’t be standing close to him. The bad news is that her arrival in the city by the bay is marked by several difficult events. For starters, she has no money to pay the porter to get her travel trunk to her friend’s apartment, and it’s an all-uphill walk. Second, her friend has disappeared from her rented rooms without a trace, leaving poor Gemma with nowhere to stay. She solves both problems handily - she negotiates with a young boy delivering laundry to use his cart to get the luggage uphill and then finagles the landlady into letting her stay in her absconded friend’s flat. That good luck stays with her: As she practices on stage, she is overheard by Henry Thornton, a wealthy businessman who wishes to become a renowned patron of the arts. He feels Gemma has the talent to be a headliner, and his patronage will get her there. Gemma is initially reluctant to meet him for dinner to discuss the possibilities - all too often, these offers come with strings attached, and she doesn’t play that game. She agrees after his insistence that their relationship will be purely business.

He is faithful to his word. Henry arranges for her to sing at a party he is throwing that introduces her to essential players in the city’s art scene. While there, she encounters Susie, a young Chinese waitress, and Alice Eastwood, a fellow boarder at Gemma’s lodgings and the curator of botany at the California Academy of Sciences. Alice is there to see a rare breed of orchid Henry has recently acquired. She knows Susie, whose real name is Suling, because the young lady runs the laundry which serves her boarding house. Alice praises Suling’s exquisite embroidery to Henry, and he offers the girl an important, well-paying job. He is going to sponsor an event where Gemma sings Madame Butterfly with Caruso, and he needs Suling to repair the lavish, ancient gown he wants Gemma to wear. She is excited to accept. She needs money to escape an arranged marriage that will be taking place in just a few weeks. (Le sigh, this trope again.)

None of the women know that they are just days away from an earthquake that will destroy the city. Nor do they know that Henry Thornton has a terrible secret, one that will be revealed in the tumultuous days just before the catastrophe and will affect them all in ways they could never have suspected.

The prose here is very smooth, and the descriptions of art, locations such as Henry Stanhope’s home, and the music Gemma sings are lovely. I could almost hear Gemma’s rich voice belting from the pages. The story also does a terrific job of building tension - our heroines are in a dual race against time. They are trying to outwit the villain before said enemy can figure out what they are up to, and unbeknownst to them, they must do so before disaster strikes. I could feel the mounting pressure as the story progressed, and the characters' complete cluelessness about the coming catastrophe added a chilling effect to the mystery aspect of the tale.

Unfortunately, those are the only real positives. One of the things I look for in a historical novel is characters who feel as though they could conceivably belong in the era in which they are placed rather than in the late twentieth/early twenty-first century. None of the characters in this novel meet that criteria. Their mannerisms, speech, beliefs, and behaviors are all more appropriate today than 120 years ago. Even more disconcerting is the ambiguity of their location. Not only could simple costume changes have made the characters feel at home in a contemporary novel, but the setting feels like anywhere USA. Anyone who has been to the San Francisco area knows that the landscape makes that impossible because it’s so different from most places in this country. To be fair, there is a vague mention of the uniqueness of Chinatown, but the authors do nothing to make that locale come to life.

The characters are also rote and generic - even Suling, who is aware of her heritage only as history, food, artifacts, and clothes. All of the women are career-oriented, independent, and shockingly open-minded for their era, and their personalities are so similar, they could easily have been swapped out for each other without a glitch. Their talents and education are unique, but their characteristics are all very similar, with the exception of someone we meet in the second half of the book. That particular person is a bit louder than the others, but in their thinking and attitudes, they are similar.

The villain is a cliché and a contradiction. Something they do at the end completely confused me because it goes against their established character up to that point.

Another confounding point is how the heroines all instantly trust each other. At one point, Gemma takes the word of Suling, whom she doesn’t know, over someone she knows fairly well because the plot needs her to trust Suling. It made little sense to me since being told someone we like is iffy might arouse our suspicions, but it would typically not inspire us to switch loyalties in an instant.

There are romances here, but they aren’t well drawn, and I honestly couldn’t figure out how the folks involved had fallen in love with each other. For added fun, the authors pontificate plentifully on how powerful men mistreated women and minorities in this era.

With all that I’ve listed wrong with The Phoenix Crown, you might wonder why the grade isn’t lower, but the simple truth is, the book isn’t bad, just generic and predictable. All the things the authors do to try to make the story unique -setting, the careers of the characters, including LGBTQ+ characters - actually delivered a fairly typical read for the current market. And there is nothing wrong with average if you are enjoying those stories - just don’t expect to find something new or exceptional here.

Kate Quinn is a master historical fiction writer and Janie Chang was a great addition to this novel. The story is captivating and the two perspectives are both well written and engaging. Highly recommend!

This breathtaking historical fiction novel is unlike any I’ve read before. Gemma & Suling are from different worlds & come together as remarkable heroines in an epic story.

Thank you, Kate Quinn, Janie Chang, William Morrow Books, Uplit Reads & Netgalley for my #gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to Uplit Reads and William Morrow for the copy of this book!

Taking place in 1906 San Francisco, THE PHOENIX CROWN is the story of Gemma, a golden-haired, silver-voiced soprano, and Suling, a Chinatown embroideress who is determined to escape an arranged marriage.

I enjoyed reading about an era that I hadn't before, and also really loved that we got two points of view in this story and that it was co-written. I really did learn a lot about Chinese immigrants during this time period, and that was my favorite part. The first part moved very quickly as the stories begin to intertwine, but about halfway through, the book started slowing down quite a bit and dragged. Still an interesting read, and very worthwhile if you love either of these authors or want to learn more about the time period!

Another terrific Kate Quinn book! And this time with Janie Chang. The lives of four seemingly diverse women, an opera singer, an artist, a botanist and a Chinese laundress, collide as the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 looms in the backdrop. As the earthquake and resulting fires destroy their city and their lives will their friendships survive? And more importantly will the man who sought to destroy them be brought to justice? This novel cleverly combines history, drama, mystery and a whole lot of action. A story of women's friendship and growth and a reclaiming of power. I highly recommend.

3.5 stars. While an excellent read, this story was disrupted by really odd pacing. The climax was 70% of the way through the book and then it kept going… it also is way too similar to Nature of Fragile Things, so I felt like I had read the story not that long ago. That being said, the story and characters were enjoyable and I thought the co-writing worked really well. I particularly enjoyed Suling’s perspective of being Chinese American in the early 1900s. I wish we had more of Alice’s character, especially with the knowledge that she’s a real person. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

I was surprised by this book! I didn’t know what it was about walking into it. I also don’t think I ever finished reading the blurb because it was uninteresting to me. But let me tell you, this book is INTERESTING.

Actual historical events and characters are carefully weaved together with fictional happenings and people to make an exciting narrative that at the end of the day is about womanhood. Each of the heroines in this book could not be more different, but they all use their strengths and lessons learned to overcome a dangerous force of evil. The drama of the story was exciting and felt so real. The stakes were high!

The story was tough to start because the beginning felt like a lot of infodumping, trying to give me decades of information in just a few pages. The rest of the story made up for it. Don’t let the beginning fool you—this is a book worth reading.

Kate Quinn is one of my favorite authors, so I was excited to read her new book, The Phoenix Crown, which she co-wrote with Janie Chang.
The Phoenix Crown is the story of reinvention and survival, but most importantly, it's about strong women and supportive female friendships.
Gemma, an opera singer from New York, arrives in 1906 in San Francisco to reinvent her career, where she meets Henry Thornton, a railway magnate and an avid collector of art. Her path also crosses with Suling, a young and talented embroideress from Chinatown. Their lives and destinies are on a collision course that will culminate during the devastating San Francisco earthquake of 1906.

The Phoenix Crown is an impeccably researched, well-written, and captivating historical fiction. It has mystery, a dash of romance, and complex and interesting characters. I enjoyed reading about Gilded Age San Francisco and the history of Chinatown and its inhabitants. The strong female characters and their friendships were my favorite aspects of the book. I highly recommend the Phonix Crown to all historical fiction fans.

US pub date: 2/13/24
Genre: historical fiction
Quick summary: 1906 San Francisco is a glittering city, and soprano Gemma and embroidery master Suling are hoping to make their fortune. But as the narrative counts down to an earthquake and massive fire, these women will find themselves in danger due to magnate Henry Thornton, whose support comes with a high price.

I love the trend of co-written novels, and this is a great match of authors! I loved the strong female protagonists Gemma and Suling - they had very different histories but were united by their goal to rise above their circumstances to achieve success. Quinn and Chang did a great job capturing the energy and potential of San Francisco, while showing the ugly truth of the virulent racism present at that time. Villain Henry was a character I loved to hate. This is a slower, character- and place-driven historical fiction, and I really enjoyed the chance to be immersed in this period of history I didn't know much about.

Thank you to William Morrow for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Phoenix Crown is the perfect book for Women’s history month. It is a love song to female friendships from women of a variety of backgrounds who connected in San Francisco in the early 1900’s, whose bond was strengthened through the earthquake of 1906 and their quest to bring down a man who wronged them all.

The dual POV novel switches between Suling, a skilled Chinese embroideress attempting to save money to avoid an arranged marriage, and Gemma, an aspiring opera singer who has come to town to perform and connect with her long-time friend and artist. Gemma’s and Suling’s lives collide when both women are made offers from the rich and powerful man, Henry Thornton, that neither can refuse. Thornton is seemingly a patron of the arts and collector of rare Chinese cultural treasures, and promises to make Gemma a star and Suling an incredible sum for repairing an ancient embroidered robe. However, when the enormous earthquake rips through the city, both women’s lives are upended, and Thornton’s secret past and possible criminal ties are revealed right as he disappears. Can the women move past their shared trauma and restart their lives? Or, when Thornton reappears in social circles years later, the women he once promised the world are determined to bring him to justice.

Quinn and Chang bring the sights, smells, clothing, music, and cultural diversity of 1906 San Francisco to life with their prose. I was fascinated by glitz, glamour, and hope of the young city. Their description of the earthquake was incredible realistic, harrowing, and shed light on how it impacted the different neighborhoods of the cities. Gemma and Suling’s character growth was admirable, and their friendships with Reggie and Alice spanned from San Fran, to Paris, Buenos Aires, New York, Colorado, and over years. This book accurately portrays the hardships women faced in the time while celebrating those who overcame obstacles in the quest to achieve their own dreams. Inspiring and touching, this is an absolute winner for historical fiction lovers!

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024; when two of your favourite authors decide to collaborate, you know it’s going to be good!

This book follows four very different women who are drawn together by fate and circumstance on the eve of the San Francisco earthquake.

Highlights include:

💪 - strong women in history
⏱️ - a seamless blending of historical and fictional characters
🇨🇳 - Asian representation
🏳️‍🌈 - LGBTQ2S+ representation
🧠 - migraine representation (As a migraine sufferer, this was huge! I’d never seen it included in a story like it was here. It validated and normalized my experience.)

The personalities of these two talented historical fiction authors shines through this book. Jamie Chang describes life Chinatown in the early 1900s like no one else could, while Kate Quinn vividly portrays the early 20th century Opera scene.

I did find that the second and third act seemed much slower than the first act, which counted down to the earthquake itself. (Maybe that part was just so good the rest couldn’t top it!)

Great historical fiction surrounding multiple characters in San Francisco earthquake in the early 1900s. A embroideress, millionaire, opera singer, botanist, something for everyone. Well written and researched but kept me wanting to pick up the book up to learn more.

While The Phoenix Crown started off a bit slow for me, and I had a hard time keeping track of the characters for the first quarter of the book, I ended up speeding through the last half to find out what was going to happen! As the earthquake countdown got closer and closer, I feel like the book got better and better, This was definitely a truly unique historical fiction, and I probably would not have normally picked it up just based on the description, but I'm such a Kate Quinn fan I couldn't miss it. And I'm glad I didn't! The characters really came to life as the plot progressed, and I really didn't have a prediction for what would happen, which is always a refreshing change for me. I wish I could see pictures of the flowers and the crown that are so central to the book.

The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn & Janie Chang: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Format: ARC from William Morrow

When I stumbled across Kate Quinn’s feminist historical fiction novels in 2022, I couldn’t stop reading them. I remember them vividly, starting with The Diamond Eye, then The Rose Code, and The Alice Network. When I saw that Kate’s newest book, co-written with Janie Chang, was available, I was so excited to get a copy to review!

Quinn’s previous works feature women around the world during wartime, but in The Phoenix Crown, Quinn breaks from that mold. From the beginning of the story, the reader is aware that the infamous 1906 San Francisco earthquake is just days away, unbeknownst to the characters. The Phoenix Crown focuses on two women living in early-1900’s San Francisco, Gemma and Suling. They couldn’t be more different from each other, but when they are drawn into the orbit of a wealthy and mysterious patron the ladies form a bond to stand the test of time.

What I love about historical fiction is that not only is the story captivating, but you also learn so much about history while reading. Learning about early San Francisco and the 1906 earthquake is interesting, and even more so from the viewpoints of two women who lived in that time. Suling’s character was born and raised in the Chinatown district of San Francisco, and of course her perspective regarding the unchecked racism and prejudice of the time was eye opening and insightful.

I ended up really enjoying this book, though I suspect I would have enjoyed the audiobook more, and there are some pacing issues in the beginning of the book. The first 20% was mostly setup and felt very slow as the nuanced characters and the time are introduced. The plot only truly hooked me starting at around 40% when our characters begin interacting with each other in a meaningful way. The pacing of the story continued to be off throughout the rest of the book; the events outlined in the blurb actually summarize the entire novel, so the readers already knows what is going to happen, creating an illusion of a slow pace. The Phoenix Crown is not wholly character driven or plot driven, but rather a mix of the two- but characters that don’t radically develop during the book and a plot that is completely given away by the blurb will probably hinder the book’s reception.

Again, I really did enjoy this book overall and of course recommend it to feminist historical fiction readers. Thank you so much to William Morrow books for the ARC of The Phoenix Crown, which is available now.

I finished this one a little while ago and I've been sitting with my review because my feelings are mixed.

I really enjoyed reading and learning about the San Francisco earthquake. It's a period of history that was new for me and had me Googling away (I love when books do this!). As is common for Quinn's books, there is an element of female empowerment and found family. Both of which I liked!

Alternatively, there were a few times that I simply lost interest in the overall plot and had to suspend belief over what some characters actions were and how quickly solutions appeared. There were times it just didn't jive with me.

The highlight of the book for me was the authors' note at the end! The research and history behind the book was more interesting than some of actual storyline for me.

While this isn't my favourite from Quinn, I'll continue to pick up her books over and over again. This was my first book from Chang and I'm definitely going to look into her backlist!

The setting is 1906 San Francisco on the eve of the big earthquake and fires that destroyed much of the city. Gemma is a newcomer to the city and an opera singer. Suling, a local laundry worker and seamstress is trying to escape before she's married off by her gambler of an uncle. Their paths cross and their lives become entangled together in the weeks leading up to the earthquake.

The authors did an amazing job with their research in presenting a world that feels historically accurate both before and after the earthquake/fires. I think this book is a slower pace but would be good if you like historical fiction. I also appreciated the diverse depictions of women of different classes and races which you don't find in many books.