Daughter of calamity by Rosalie M. Lin

Daughter of calamity is a debut novel for Chinese-American writer Rosalie M. Lin. It is a historical fantasy that places the reader in a different world indeed.  Lin is a young voice, writing a novel that emphatically reflects her youth (in the  street cred. of her language and the activities depicted), her education (a degree in Comparative literature and an unfinished biomedical PhD) and her experience which includes pole-dancing in a Beijing nightclub.

This novel is rooted in the sleazy, nasty nightlife of Shanghai in 1932. It's the Shanghai that was carved up at that time, in the colonial period, into French, American and Japanese concessions. It is the Shanghai of gangsters and courtesans, puppets and puppeteers, western corruption and avarice and ancient shamanistic practice.

Daughter of calamity is narrated in the first person voice of Jingwen. Jingwen is a strong and engaging central character. She is very capable and independent and is coming of age - starting to realise that she is something or has something that is powerful but unknown. She has her fair share of human sorrows, heart ache and misunderstandings of people - especially her mother and grandmother. For years she has lived with her grandmother selling human bones for her without question as a child who is inured to it. Her grandmother is a 'doctor'. Strangeness drenches the settings and plot in this highly atmospheric novel. By day Jingwen works hard training with a dance troupe. At night she is a taxi dancer at the Paramount, a sumptuous nightclub where the girls compete viciously with each other to secure the patronage of the wealthiest men.  Danger and horror enters as dancers begin to have parts of their faces (eg. their lips or eyes) and even their entire faces cut away and taken to unknown places by unknown assailants. Jingwen is deceived and manipulated by powerful men of opposing forces and the story tangles down into a savage underworld of evil businessmen, street gangsters and dark mysticism. Who can she trust? Who might betray her? Who is she herself? What is she capable of and why is she seemingly the chosen one at the centre of all of these opposing and clashing worlds?

This is a story of self discovery. It is a page turner... very dark-full of vulnerability, passion, decadence, mysticism and danger. Lin conjures a shimmering atmospheric novel: the shrines, the birdsong, the mists, the fragrances, the shikumen, the lilong, the longtang, the wharves, the gardens, the cabarets and dance halls, the several faces of people who are not what they appear to be - who can morph into mystical god-like beings. 'Deep in Shanghai's cabarets, humanity wears a different mask... made of skin instead of suits, and it tears easily... Dripping in jewels, we come trying to fill the empty spaces within ourselves...'

Daughter of calamity reads as a real clash of worlds - the old cultural and spirit filled China - powerful and mystical, clashes with the western world. The men in business suits who woo the dancers are representatives of the corruption,extortion and looting of Shanghai's soul. The girls are like birds - there for the taking - even of their body parts. But our main protagonists are not as they seem. There is power in the darkness and revenge is vicious and exacting.

This is a book that depicts a world of sin and danger. It is compelling, fantastical and violent. 

Themes: Colonial Shanghai 1932, Dance halls, Body part trade, Gods and gangsters.

Wendy Jeffrey