The Fourth Princess by Janie Chang

 Shanghai, 1911. Lisan Liu is elated when she is hired as secretary to wealthy American Caroline Stanton, the new mistress of Lennox Manor on the outskirts of Shanghai’s International Settlement. However, the Manor has a dark past due to a previous owner’s suicide, and soon Lisan’s childhood nightmares resurface with more intensity and meld with haunted visions of a woman in red. Adding to her unease is the young gardener, Yao, who both entices and disturbs her.

Newly married Caroline looks forward to life in China with her husband, Thomas, away from the shadows of another earlier tragedy. But an unwelcome guest, Andrew Grey, attends her party and claims to know secrets she can’t afford to have exposed. At the same party, the notorious princess Masako Kyo approaches Lisan with questions about the young woman’s family that the orphaned Lisan can’t answer.

As Caroline struggles with Grey’s extortion and Thomas’s mysterious illness, Lisan’s future is upended when she learns the truth about her past, and why her identity has been hidden all these years. All the while, strange incidents accelerate, driving Lisan to doubt her sanity as Lennox Manor seems unwilling to release her until she fulfills demands from beyond the grave.

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The Fourth Princess: A Gothic Novel of Old Shanghai: Chang, Janie: 9780063308121: Amazon.com: Books

Janie Chang's historical novels have been critically-acclaimed Canadian national bestsellers. Her novels THREE SOULS and DRAGON SPRINGS ROAD were long listed for the International Dublin Literary Award. Her third novel THE LIBRARY OF LEGENDS was a Book of the Month Club pick. Her fourth novel, THE PORCELAIN MOON, was named one of the 5 Top Historical Novels of 2023 by the Toronto Star. THE PHOENIX CROWN, a novel co-authored with Kate Quinn, released in February 2024.

Her stories often feature a family connection, drawing from a family history with 36 generations of recorded genealogy and stories about life in a small Chinese town in the years before the Second World War, including tales of ancestors who encountered dragons, ghosts, and immortals.

Born in Taiwan, Janie has lived in the Philippines, Iran, Thailand, and New Zealand. She now lives on the beautiful Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada with her husband.