Ideas for The Jade Lily began on a family holiday in Shanghai. Like Alexandra, my first encounter there led to an explosive love affair. The city captivated me with its lights, spices, laneways full of sizzling dumplings and noodles with chilli oil, markets, tables of writhing fish and frogs, and grand buildings. But, always, the curious, warm people pulled me back. I visited parks and gardens in Shanghai during subsequent trips, then was wooed by the waterways and historic gardens of Suzhou. I’ve sampled the delights of acupuncture and downed many bitter decoctions in the making of this book.

In Hongkou, I noticed a rusted Star of David inset into a doorway. What was this symbol doing in the middle of an old longtang laneway? A visit to the nearby Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum revealed that Shanghai had opened its doors to over twenty thousand refugees fleeing Europe at a time when no other country—including my own—would. How had I missed this crucial snippet of history? I also discovered that it was possible before 1940 to be released from a concentration camp if you had a valid passport, visa, permit to take up residency in another country and proof of transport. Such release was always subject to the prisoner leaving Germany within a limited time. The timeframe varied from case to case. A Chinese visa did not guarantee passage to the Far East. If you failed to leave within the stipulated time, you were taken back to the concentration camp.

And so ideas for The Jade Lily started to bloom. I started to think about friendship and loyalties, the price of love and the power of war. How hardship and courage can shape us. The unexpected bargains that are made when we make our own rules. How do we shape our own identity? What does it mean to be generous as a person? And as a country? What is our duty?

It isn’t lost on me that while I’m writing a story about refugees and how China opened their doors and hearts to the Jews, Australia locks up refugees who attempt to come here via boat, and in one particularly disturbing development, has left refugees on Manus Island to fend for themselves. Why haven’t the lessons of history taught us to treat people a little better?

The interplay of history and fiction is a moveable feast. I have made every endeavour to capture the feel of the era, but in some cases I have taken some liberties with timelines and the historical record. I’ve shifted events and compressed others to serve the story.

For example, the letters to and from Daniel at Dachau are far longer than were permitted, and it is highly unlikely a letter from Germany would have been received in Shanghai as early as July 1945. Ships carrying European refugees from Hong Kong after the war mostly arrived in Sydney, and the refugees stayed a little longer at the Peninsula (wouldn’t you?).

Lastly, there is no secret passageway off the foyer of the Fairmont Peace Hotel, so should you happen to visit please leave the wood panelling alone!

What is both true and extraordinary is the courage, generosity and fortitude shown by the following real-life people: Dr Feng Shan Ho (no relation to my fictional Hos); Laura Margolis, of the Jewish Distribution Committee, who saved thousands of lives in the ghetto with her food program; the remarkable Kadoorie family of the Peninsula Hotel; and Sir Victor Ellis Sassoon. They were all people who gave generously at the time. There are mixed reports about the Japanese administrator, Ghoya.

The rest of my characters are fictional and I’ve tried to capture the era without delving too deeply into any single person’s experience. I’ve tried to show how people can be shaped by circumstance. That very few people, or ‘sides’, are wholly bad or good. There’s a lot of grey areas in life.

There are differences in the usage of place names, to reflect the time eras: Honkew/Hongkou, Soochow/Suzhou, Whangpoo/Huangpu.

In all cases I have tried to use the correct Chinese dialect and anglicised version. In the 1930s Shanghai was a melting pot of languages: Ningpoo, Gompo and Shanghainese, and successful merchants would have spoken Mandarin or Cantonese. I have made every endeavour to check the usage, but in the end referred to the professional translation agency LOTE Marketing to correct any Chinese terms, as they translate many official documents into the Chinese languages for profits and not-for-profits. There were no accents before Hanyu Pinyin was introduced in about 1954, so we have opted to leave them out for consistency in the manuscript.

The Jade Lily was read (and cross-checked!) by Horst Eisfelder (author of Chinese Exile: My Years in Shanghai and Nanking) and Sam Moshinsky (author of Goodbye Shanghai), both of whom lived in Shanghai during the Occupation and migrated to Australia afterwards. Both missed a second career opportunity as book editors, so keen was their eye for detail. I am greatly honoured that both took time to read an early draft and answer questions about their respective time in the Hongkew Ghetto and French Concession. Both gentlemen were enormously generous and patient as I tried to ‘walk in another person’s shoes’ and capture a small part of the Shanghai era.

Sydney academic and author Andrew Jakubowicz was incredibly helpful as I sounded out the historical plausibility of my novel.

From Shanghai, Jamie Barys of UnTour read the manuscript and checked my food and Chinese language references. I’m dreaming of when I can go back and take what is possibly one of the best food tours in the world again!

Chinese Doctor (and dear friend) Sandie Griffiths read the manuscript and checked all things Traditional Chinese Medicine. TCM Doctor Peter Gigante gave me a splendid tour of his Chinese herb garden where I discovered a love of the blue monkshood. He also read a draft to ensure my herb lore and Shanghai history were on track. I’m indebted to both TCM specialists for their expertise.

In all of the cases above, any mistakes or misrepresentations in The Jade Lily are entirely my responsibility.

My sister, Prudence Hannon, accompanied me to Shanghai for my research visit. She proved to be a thoughtful, engaged and fun travelling companion and I can’t wait to hit Shanghai with her again soon.

A book only comes to life when there are readers. Writing is a solitary business and I’m grateful for a handful of honest and intuitive beta readers. Thanks to Sue Peacock for her insightful reading of the manuscript and swift execution of adjectives. Kate Daniel seeks the character nuances and plot holes, along with pointing out sloppy copy. Kate O’Donnell, always a wise sounding-board as I try to wrangle my way to the end of a messy first draft, looked at the working draft at a couple of key points. Dear friend and fellow writer Sara James Butcher is always available for a ten-minute phone call to discuss a problematic character or plot point. My mum, Carolyn Manning, is my most enthusiastic reader, even when I send it to her in a panic the day before it is due to the publisher!

I’m most grateful to my agent Clare Forster of Curtis Brown Australia and her colleague Kate Cooper of Curtis Brown UK for their ongoing enthusiasm for getting my work into the world.

A most sincere thanks to my dear publisher, Annette Barlow, Christa Munns and the Allen & Unwin team, including Tami Rex, Andrew Brown, Louise Cornegé, Jim Demetriou, Lillian Kovaks and Tom Gilliat. A special mention to Ali Lavau for her uber-editing.

A huge shout-out to my readers, who have been so kind with their feedback since The Midsummer Garden was released. You all seem to love food, travel, history and gardens as much as I do! Thank you.

Love and thanks to my children, Henry, Jemima and Charlie. I’m so proud of you three. Lastly, my deep gratitude to Alex, who never wavers in his love and steadiness.

This a work of fiction, and I am very respectful of all those whose lives have been touched by the periods and circumstances I write about. My thoughts are always with those people, and their families.

RESOURCES

The complete list of sources consulted in the writing of The Jade Lily is too long to detail here. Below is a list of essential resources.

TOURS

In Shanghai, I took a walking tour that included the former Hongkew Ghetto and Shanghai Jewish Museum with Dvir Bar-Gal of Shanghai Jewish Tours in Shanghai (www.shanghai-jews.com) who provided an astounding overview of the Jewish history in Shanghai.

I also undertook two walking tours of Art-Deco buildings and the former French Concession with history enthusiast and long-time Shanghai resident Patrick Cranley and the Shanghai Art Deco team (www.shanghaiartdeco.net).

I spent a mouth-watering morning with Jamie Barys of UnTour exploring traditional and new Shanghai cuisine in the former French Concession (untourfoodtours.com).

With all these tours and interviews, any mistakes or misinterpretations are entirely my own.

BOOKS

Shanghai: China’s Gateway to Modernity, Marie Clare Bergère (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2009); Tales of Old Shanghai, Graham Earnshaw (Hong Kong: Earnshaw Books, 2008); Women Warriors and Wartime Spies of China, Louise Edwards (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016); The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank (Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, 1952); Passivity, Resistance, and Collaboration: Intellectual Choices in Occupied Shanghai, 1937–1945, Poshek Fu (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1993); Once Upon a Time in Shanghai: A Jewish Woman’s Journey through the 20th Century China, Rena Krasno (Beijing: China Intercontinental Press, 2008); Shanghai Modern: The Flowering of a New Urban Culture in China 1930–1945, Leo Ou-Fan Lee (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999); Growing Up in Shanghai, Dan Moalem (Sydney: Sydney Jewish Museum, 2007); Goodbye Shanghai: A Memoir, Sam Moshinsky (Armadale: Mind and Film Publishing, 2009); The Chinese Medicine Bible: The Definitive Guide to Holistic Healing, Penelope Ody (Alresford: Godsfield, 2010); Eternal Memories: The Jews in Shanghai, Ren Panguang (Shangai: Brilliant Publishing House, 2015); Shanghai Policeman, E.W. Peters (London: Rich & Cowan, 1937); All Under Heaven: Recipes From the 35 Cuisines of China, Carolyn Phillips (Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press, 2016); Port of Last Resort: The Diaspora Communities of Shanghai, Marcia Reynders Ristaino (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001); Escape to Shanghai: A Jewish Community in China, James R. Ross (New York: Free Press, 1994); Culture and Imperialism, Edward W. Said (New York: Knopf, 1993); Street of Eternal Happiness: Big City Dreams Along a Shanghai Road, Rob Schmitz (New York: Crown Publishers, 2016); Culinary Nostalgia: Regional Food Culture and the Urban Experience in Shanghai, Mark Swislocki (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2008); Policing Shanghai 1927–1937, Frederic Wakeman Jr (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995); The Complete Illustrated Guide to Chinese Medicine: A Comprehensive Guide to Health and Fitness, Tom Williams (London: Thorsons, 2003); Shanghai Splendour: Economic Sentiments and the Making of Modern China 1943–1949, Wen-Hsin Yeh (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2007); Man’s Search for Meaning, Victor E. Frankl (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1964).

Various articles and documents, such as the letter written by an American soldier to his parents after the liberation of Dachau: www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2014/05/02/holocaust_liberation_letter_from_american_soldier_at_dachau.html

MUSEUMS

Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum

Jewish Holocaust Centre, Melbourne

Sydney Jewish Museum

Immigration Museum, Melbourne

Snippets plucked from original sources include:

The following words/ideas/extracts from Passivity, Resistance, and Collaboration: Intellectual Choices in Occupied Shanghai, 1937–1945, Poshek Fu, op. cit.

Chapter 16: Zhe Buguo Shi Chuntian, ‘It’s Only Spring’ (p. 72), original play by Li Jianwu.

Chapter 35: For details of patriotism through street performances, Huaju (p. 71) was a term coined in the 1020s by Tian Han.

Chapter 36: The Neo-Confucion phrase, ‘To starve to death is a very small matter, to lose one’s integrity is a grave matter’ (p. 57) is a famous quote from Song philosopher, Zhu Xi (1130–1200). Also ‘Puyuan’ is a figment of my imagination, but the original Puyuan was a home owned by Zhu Pu (Garden of Simplicity) which, together with Zhou Lian’s Spanish-style villa, became sites of ‘elegant gatherings’ and salons where they discussed music, theatre and art; studied rare manuscripts; and dined on fine food and wine, p. 139.

Chapter 45: Stories of beheadings and the phrase, ‘Look! Look! The result of anti-Japanese elements’ (p. 36) were originally referenced in Tao Juyin, My Experience in the Solitary Island, Shanghai, 1979, pp. 30–32. See also Zhu Meguhua, ‘The Brutality of Japanese Militariasts in Shanghai’, Shanghai Difang Shi Zilao, 1982, pp. 152–154.

Chapter 49: Neo-Confucian concept of qijie (p. 54) as interpreted by Wang Tongzhao in ‘Remembering Old Gentleman Tongxuan’ in Qui lai jin, pp. 40–46.

Other original sources:

Chapter 13: The recipe names basi pingguo, lu dagun—Rolling Donkeys; Laughing Doughnut Holes and Too Soft a Heart come from All Under Heaven: Recipes From the 35 Cuisines of China, Carolyn Phillips, op. cit.

Chapter 17: The pidgin lexicon is from Tales of Old Shanghai, Graham Earnshaw, op. cit., p. 38.

Chapter 24: The quote ‘Documents like this were often used as proof of emigration to secure the release of Jews imprisoned after Kristallnacht’ is on the wall signage at the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum.

Chapter 26: Park Regulations, 1917 extract from Tales of Old Shanghai, Graham Earnshaw, op. cit., p. 136.

Chapter 28: Name of dentist and café on Chusan Road taken from image in Eternal Memories: The Jews in Shanghai, Ren Panguang, op. cit., p. 43.

Chapter 30: Excerpt from speech by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 8 December 1941.

Chapter 40: Historical jade carving descriptions referenced in the article: ‘Unravelling the Ancient Riddles of Chinese Jewelry,’ Ben Marks (www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/unraveling-the-ancient-riddles-of-chinese-jewelry).

Chapter 49: The proclamation issued by Japanese authorities on 18 February 1943 was published in most Shanghai newspapers. Reproduced in Eternal Memories: The Jews in Shanghai, Ren Panguang, op. cit. Full text also reproduced at www.kulanu.org/china/proclamation.php.

Chapter 62: The story of the sabotage to hand grenades is fictional, but inspired by a true account at the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum.

Chapter 69: Singers’ names, such as Golden Voice, were sourced from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Great_Singing_Stars.