The Empress Letters
by Linda Rogers
ISBN 9781896951805 | 5.5" x 8.5" | TPB with French Flaps | $22.95
Categories:Fiction - Literary, Fiction - Historical
Purchase:Local Bookstores | mcnallyrobinson.com | amazon.ca | chapters.indigo.ca
Synopsis
In a series of letters written while on board the Empress of Asia, en route from Victoria to Shanghai, Poppy von Stronheim Mandeville explains the secret history of her family to her daughter, Precious. From the activities of her opium and rum smuggling mother, to the truth behind Precious’ conception, Poppy must unravel the secrets that her mother kept from her, and that Poppy has until now kept from Precious. A world of lies, etiquette and whispers, The Empress Letters shows both the fantasy and dark reality of Victoria in the early 20th century.Preview
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Reviews
"The Empress Letters manages to capture all the fantasy of early 20th century Victoria and also reveal the darkly class-ridden, racist, and narcotics-driven substructure on which the fantasy rests ... Rogers gets top marks for the atmosphere she creates."
— Quill & Quire
"Damn this one is fun... A rare social satire that actually works, The Empress Letters is a tour de force about a vanished time on the west coast of Canada."
— The Sun Times
"The Empress Letters [is] ... rich with the social history of the 20th century."
— The Vancouver Sun
"Linda Rogers creates a world so filled with fragrant beauty and luxurious privelege, reading it feels as indulgent as kicking off your shoes, parking yourself on the couch , and finishing off an entire box of fine chocolates."
— Winnipeg Free Press
"The plot of The Empress Letters has as many twists and turns as the tunnels beneath the heroine's mansion."
— BC Bookworld
"Once I picked Empress up, I had a hard time putting it down ... an intriguing and poetic novel."
— Monday Magazine
"Sensual and sensuous, The Empress Letters is brimming with the intelligence of a fine writer who captures the rhythm of the east wind."
— Books in Canada
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