1920s Shanghai was particularly interesting to me.
- Book: Daisy Chain
- Location: Glasgow, Shanghai
- Author: Maggie Ritchie
Daisy Chain is the story of two girls who grow up to be life-long friends. Written for historical fiction fans, this book takes place between 1909 and 1929. The story opens in a country village in Scotland; Lily and Jeanie come from differing social classes, but they are firm friends. Lily loves to paint and Jeanie wants to be a dancer.
As they reach adulthood, Lily attends art school in Glasgow, while Jeanie finds her way onto the stage. Both girls work hard and excel in their chosen careers. After the war, Lily marries and moves to China with her husband, while Jeanie goes on tour with her dance company.
Both women are very likable characters, and there is just the right amount of scene-setting about Lily’s art world and Jeanie’s dance company to compliment the characters and add interest. There are many well-written secondary characters; some I wanted to know much more about. I really enjoyed the parts of the book that took place in Shanghai; 1920s China is a time and place that I know very little about, and I was very interested to read that the author was awarded a grant from the Society Of Authors to travel to Shanghai to complete the research for this book.
This was an easy, compelling read set in a time of ground-breaking changes for women, and it certainly kept my attention throughout.
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