Weina Dai Randel

In a little-known part of the Holocaust, a Chinese diplomat facilitated the rescue of thousands of Jews from Vienna, Austria, by using his visa-writing powers. They were sent to, of all places, Shanghai during the Japanese invasion of China. (Of course, a war zone is much safer than the overzealous rage of Hitler.) As described in the Author’s Note, this Chinese diplomat, named Ho Fengshan, was not recognized until after his death in the late twentieth century. In this work of historical show more fiction, Dai Randel imagines what this hero would be like. In so doing, she invents several characters and a narrative to support the historical record, replete with some intrigue and some heartache.

This book has many tragic elements to it. Even in a courageous rescue, the bittersweetness of life is seen. The story is told from the first-person perspective of Fengshan’s fictionalized second wife along with two other third-person accounts. Grace hopes to start a family in Vienna with this eminent Chinese leader, but becomes outraged by the fall of the surrounding society. She gets involved in relationships with Jewish individuals, who are persecuted and tormented by despicable Nazi henchmen.

Kristalnacht is vividly portrayed here along with the capriciousness of Nazi hate. I’ve read over a dozen works on the Holocaust, but none of those brought out the Jewish plight quite in the way that Dai Randel does here. She brings out this oppression in everyday details of relationships that’s, well, unique. Certain Germans just took every opportunity to pick on the Jews however they could, to the extreme of killing thousands. It makes me think of anti-immigrant fervor in today’s world.

Fortunately, Fengshan and Grace mutually support each other’s compassion. They sacrifice much to the cause. Of course, their personal lives do not cease just because Hitler’s forces are taking over central Europe. Even though successful in saving thousands, they always have the haunting memory that they could have saved more. They sacrificed their futures for these people. As in her prior novel, Dai Randel highlights this little-known Jewish community is southeastern China. I’m grateful to learn that the Diaspora even reaches there.

Those interested in the Holocaust will find a unique perspective in Dai Randel’s books. New aspects to a seemingly depthless tragedy are elucidated through her storytelling. The saying goes that excellence is doing common things in an uncommon manner; this book certainly achieves that and more. I’m grateful to have read it and to ponder its relevance to world history and my life in America today. show less

I enjoy WW2 stories, especially ones from perspectives that I never knew existed. The Chinese consul general of Vienna wanted to follow orders and help his country rise in the eyes of the world, but his conscience had to do what was right for his soul. So he helped write visas for thousands of Viennese Jews to get out in 1938-1940 and go to China. His wife, Grace, had a tutor that turned out to be Jewish and they did what they could to help her and her family survive, until they couldn't. I show more couldn't put down this book when I got to the second half because I had to find out what happened next. I am always astounded at authors that do the incredible task to find new and creative ways to tell the myriad stories from WW2. show less

The genre of historical fiction is as well-known for romances as it is for stories set in World War II. This book takes those simple premises but upends them by adding so much more to produce a beautiful product of art. Its setting – Shanghai, China, during the war – is unusual as are its main protagonists, a Chinese businesswoman and a Jewish refugee. Apparently, Shanghai, long-known for its prowess as an international business culture, housed many Jewish refugees who fled from show more German-occupied Europe. This book brings their under-reported stories to life by weaving them into this complex tale.

About halfway through the book, I thought that this was just going to be another superficial romance. How wrong I was! In the remaining 200 pages, Randel spins yarn of so deep and lasting flavor that it reminds us of the profound power of human love despite the profound disturbances of war. Onto the canvas of war and romance, she paints integrated themes of family, of inter-cultural peace, and of undying hope. The enduring strength of love despite hardships and differences is, of course, also on display.

This book starts simply and innocently enough. In pre-war Shanghai, the Jewish refugee falls in love with a Chinese businesswoman, who is already engaged to another Chinese man. As a non-linear temporal backdrop, the Chinese businesswoman is telling this story to a film-maker in a hotel in Shanghai in 1980. But then human interactions take over and torque this tale right until the end. Whenever a new climax and denouement have been met, heightened action soon supersedes by a new sub-plot.

To be frank, this book’s unending drama left me more exhausted than a family Thanksgiving dinner gone wrong. It was simultaneously hard to put down, but thoroughly exhausting to continue. The amount of turmoil was almost incredulous even though all of the plot’s components seemed sensible enough.

This book brings the plight of the Jewish community in Shanghai to light, a historical narrative that I was not aware of. I hope this book will be translated into Chinese to reach a broader audience. This book will inspire many readers by its faith in human love despite a myriad of hardships. For some reason, novels about World War II continue to fill Western-language bookshelves, and this book will certainly add to that list. show less

Night Angels is Weina Dao Randel's 4th novel. She wrote the Empress of Bright Moon duopoly that many historical fiction fans loved. In her newest novel, Randel writes about a diplomatic couple who are risking their lives to help Jews in Vienna escape the Nazis. It is inspired by the true story of Dr. Ho Fengshan.

The publisher's summary:

1938. Dr. Ho Fengshan, consul general of China, is posted in Vienna with his American wife, Grace. Shy and ill at ease with the societal obligations of show more diplomats’ wives, Grace is an outsider in a city beginning to feel the sweep of the Nazi dragnet. When Grace forms a friendship with her Jewish tutor, Lola Schnitzler, Dr. Ho requests that Grace keep her distance. His instructions are to maintain amicable relations with the Third Reich, and he and Grace are already under their vigilant eye.

But when Lola’s family is subjugated to a brutal pogrom, Dr. Ho decides to issue them visas to Shanghai. As violence against the Jews escalates after Kristallnacht and threats mount, Dr. Ho must issue thousands more to help Jews escape Vienna before World War II explodes.

Night Angels is a gripping historical fiction novel that grabs your attention from the first page. I found myself rooting for Fengshan as he faced mounting pressure to stop issuing visas. He endured threats to his and his family's physical safety from Adolph Eichmann and his superiors in China. His career in the Republic of China diplomatic corps was also threatened. Fengshan, a Christian, became more emboldened with each threat. As these threats became more intense, Fengshan knew that it was his mission in life to save as many Jews as possible from the Nazis. In the end, he did not care what he had to endure from the Nazis.

Not much is said about Fengshan's faith. The author only tells us that he is a member of the Lutheran Church. However, we never see him going to church. Perhaps the churches were closed by this time period of 1938 to 1940. The author does not tell us. The reader sees Fengsham driving by his church to look at it when he is overwhelmed. He is initially prompted by his wife Grace to save her friend Lola by giving her a visa. Fengshan does not want to do this because his bosses are against angering the Nazis. China needs weapons from Germany in order to fight the Japanese who were occupying China. He is unable to ignore his wife's pleas and with each visa that he processes, Fengshan feels easier about what he is doing.

I loved reading about this little known part of WWII history. The twist of foreign diplomats dealing with the Nazi regime is a new one for WWII fiction. It gives us a fresh perspective on how foreign countries, non-Allies that is, dealt with Germany during the war.

Night Angels is a must read! show less