The Last Rose of Shanghai

The Last Rose of Shanghai is a historical romance novel by Weina Dai Randel. Randel is known for historical fiction focusing on Chinese women’s experiences. Published in 2021, the novel predominantly takes place in Shanghai during the Japanese occupation of the city from 1940–1945. It follows the relationship between Aiyi Shao, an heiress and nightclub owner, and Ernest Reismann, a Jewish refugee and talented pianist who arrives in the city with nothing. Despite the taboos around their cross-cultural relationship, Aiyi and Ernest fall in love. The Last Rose of Shanghai was a 2021 National Jewish Book Award finalist.

This guide refers to the 2021 Lake Union Publishing edition.

Content Warning: This guide describes and discusses the text’s depictions of drug addiction, domestic violence, and misogyny as well as its graphic depictions of violence and death. The text also includes racist and antisemitic language, which this guide repeats only in direct quotations.

Plot Summary

The Last Rose of Shanghai is told in three voices. The frame for the novel is 60-year-old Aiyi recounting her past to Scarlet Sorebi, an American documentarian, in 1980. The central narration takes place in 1940-45, split between Aiyi and Ernest’s points of view.

In 1940 Japanese-occupied Shanghai, local heiress and nightclub owner Aiyi meets impoverished Jewish refugee Ernest at the hotel of British millionaire, Victor Sassoon. Ernest helps Aiyi during a racist assault by two white men. Ernest and his sister Miriam recently arrived, and Ernest is looking for work, but no one wants to hire refugees. Aiyi is trying to save her failing nightclub, which is out of alcohol due to Japanese supply throttling. Aiyi returns to the hotel to ask Sassoon to sell liquor to her and encounters Ernest again. Taken by his piano playing, Aiyi hires Ernest, despite the social taboos against Shanghainese and international residents mingling. Aiyi and Ernest are powerfully drawn to each other.

Before Ernest can begin performing, a drunk Chinese customer stabs him in his right hand, which is already scarred from an attack by the Hitler Youth. Aiyi rushes him to the hospital, but the injury will take months to heal. Determined to work, Ernest performs menial tasks at the club. Miriam makes dangerous forays into the city, which Ernest tries to forbid. Aiyi’s family-selected fiancé, Cheng, disapproves of Aiyi hiring a white man, as does Aiyi’s oldest brother, Sinmay. They pressure Aiyi into firing Ernest. Yet when Aiyi tries, Ernest says that he’s ready to play. He becomes an overnight sensation, skyrocketing the club’s business. Miriam is mugged, so Ernest enrolls her in school, where she must live with an American family.

In Aiyi’s office, Aiyi and Ernest kiss but are interrupted by Cheng and Aiyi’s brother, Ying. Cheng fires Ernest while Aiyi is away from the club. American journalist and Sinmay’s mistress, Emily Hahn, visits, and Aiyi sees that Emily and Sinmay’s love makes them miserable due to social disapproval. Learning of Cheng’s dismissal of Ernest, Aiyi finds Ernest and they have sex at an inn and start an affair.

Japanese officer Yamazaki appears at Aiyi’s nightclub, demanding that Aiyi tell him where Ernest is, or he’ll seize the club. Yamazaki erroneously believes that Ernest killed a Japanese soldier. Ernest gets a job playing piano at Sassoon’s Jazz Bar. Sassoon proposes marriage to Aiyi, saying that her club will be safe from the Japanese if it becomes a joint British-Chinese business. She considers this but instead trades a nude photography session for a business contract protecting the club. The Japanese dissolve the Settlement’s Municipal Council, leaving the international area unprotected. Ernest sees Aiyi go to Sassoon’s studio and is jealous. Aiyi makes Sassoon promise to keep the photos private. Leaving, she hears Ernest’s angry piano playing and concludes that their relationship is over, though Ernest forgives her. Ernest photographs guns being transferred to Japanese troops in the Settlement and plans to warn Sassoon.

It’s 1941, and Aiyi hasn’t seen Ernest for months, but after saying goodbye to Emily, who is leaving for Hong Kong, Aiyi seeks Ernest out. They reunite, and Ernest convinces Aiyi to leave with him before war breaks out. Ernest finally warns Sassoon about the Japanese guns. Yamazaki returns to Aiyi’s club drunk and violent, and he shoots a dancer. Cheng and Ying chase off the Japanese, but Aiyi retreats home, shaken. Ernest meets Laura Margolis, who supports Jewish refugees with funds from New York. Sassoon leaves Shanghai, giving Ernest the key to his studio to monitor his photograph collection. When Aiyi returns to her club, the Japanese have sealed it for investigation. Distraught, she tells Ernest that she will not leave with him. Ernest is crushed. Miriam’s host family is leaving for America and wants to adopt Miriam, but Ernest refuses to let her go. Aiyi commits to a secure life with Cheng. Back living with Ernest, Miriam will not speak to him.

The Japanese invade the International Settlement. Ernest rushes to Sassoon’s hotel, destroying Aiyi’s nude photos and saving Sassoon’s camera bag. Aiyi sees Ying buying illegal guns. When she realizes that the Settlement is under attack, she goes to find Ernest. Cheng finds her there and brings her home, though Aiyi tells him that she’s in love with Ernest. Sinmay is furious to hear this and locks Aiyi in her room. Ernest sees trucks carrying British, American, and Dutch people, including Laura Margolis, to camps. Margolis throws her red scarf to Ernest, which contains a document enabling funds for the refugees. Opening Sassoon’s bag, Ernest finds an envelope addressed to him containing $10,000.

In 1942, Aiyi remains locked up for seven weeks, hearing news of the escalating war from Ying. Ernest buys a bakery from a fleeing international family and hires Jewish refugees to work in it, which softens Miriam. Aiyi gets Ying to release her by threatening to tell Sinmay about Ying’s gun trade. She reunites with Ernest in their inn, where she lives for the next three months. She helps Ernest find Laura Margolis so that he can find out how to get the funds to the 8,000 Jewish refugees currently without food or medicine. Ernest secures the funds and commits the bakery to making bread for the refugees. Cheng finds Aiyi, and she sees that he is genuinely hurt that she rejected him. Aiyi realizes that she is pregnant.

Ernest buys the Jazz Bar piano and moves it to the bakery. Aiyi meets with Sinmay, who gives her and Ernest his blessing before leaving to find Emily. Ernest plays the piano, and a drunken Yamazaki enters the bakery, drawn by the music. Aiyi arrives, and Yamazaki realizes that Ernest is the man he’s been searching for. A fight ensues, and Miriam is killed. Devastated, Ernest breaks up with Aiyi. She returns to her family home, which is in dire financial straits. Visibly pregnant, Aiyi looks for Ernest at the bakery but is turned away by Golda, a beautiful refugee working there. After Aiyi has a baby girl, Sinmay’s wife, Peiyu, takes the child away. Cheng visits and still wants to protect Aiyi; they get married. Ernest, meanwhile, takes advantage of the shifting economy and becomes rich.

In 1943, Ernest becomes even wealthier and supports the refugees even when the JDC money runs out. He unsuccessfully searches for Aiyi again. Aiyi settles into her secure life with Cheng, until she finds out that Peiyu sold her house and now lives in a hovel. She asks Cheng to take her to Peiyu. Along the way they run into Yamazaki, and he kills Cheng. Cheng’s mother evicts Aiyi, so she goes to Peiyu. The Japanese government cracks down on Jewish refugees, and Yamazaki takes over Ernest’s business and bank accounts, interning him and his community in a “designated area” for stateless people. Peiyu departs for her parents’ house but accidentally leaves behind her youngest daughter, Little Star. Aiyi cares for Little Star and steals to sustain them. Ernest and Aiyi glimpse each other at the border of the designated area. Aiyi sees that Ernest still loves her but bitterly bids him goodbye. Ernest marries Golda, finding purpose in their relationship.

In 1944, Ying finds Aiyi and Little Star. He is part of a rebel force and was shot in a mission against the Japanese, so he stays in hiding with them. Aiyi obsesses about finding her daughter. Golda confesses that Aiyi looked for Ernest while pregnant, and he realizes that he has a child. Golda dies of disease. Ying won’t help Aiyi find Ernest because of his loyalty to Cheng.

In 1945, Ying hears that the Americans will attack Shanghai. He and his group want to help by destroying the Japanese base and naval cruiser, but they are ambushed; only Ying escapes. Ernest sees Ying in the camp, and Ying offers a trade: He’ll connect Ernest to Aiyi if Ernest steals a tank for him. Ernest agrees. The Americans attack and bomb the Japanese base, which is next to the refugee camp. Aiyi searches for Ernest, who steals a tank but drives it into a wall. Ying saves Ernest, but Yamazaki attacks them. Aiyi is trapped under rubble nearby. Ying shoots Yamazaki, and Ernest goes to Aiyi. Ying tells them to leave and uses the tank’s shells to blow up the naval cruiser. A bomber crashes on top of him, and Aiyi and Ernest barely escape.

In 1980, Aiyi waits for Scarlet Sorebi, an American documentarian, in the lobby of the Peace Hotel in Shanghai, which she plans to donate to Sorebi in exchange for a documentary. Aiyi’s niece Phoenix and Ms. Sorebi arrive. Sorebi curated an exhibit in LA about Jewish refugees in Shanghai, including Ernest, and Aiyi wants Sorebi to make a documentary about Ernest. When Aiyi brings up the donation of the Peace Hotel, Sorebi wants to know her motivation.

Aiyi recounts part of her story and asks Sorebi not to mention the nude photographs that Aiyi took for Sassoon in the documentary. Sorebi again questions why Aiyi’s wants to donate the hotel, and Aiyi says that she did something horrible. Aiyi continues recounting the events of the 1940s, and Sorebi is quiet after hearing that Aiyi’s child was taken, though she doesn’t judge Aiyi. Aiyi wants to tell Sorebi something but is disoriented. The two women hear music reminiscent of the song “The Last Rose of Shanghai.” Aiyi thinks of the song’s references to karma.

Sorebi shows Aiyi a picture dated 1946, depicting Aiyi and a little girl. She asks if the child is Aiyi’s daughter. Aiyi says that the girl is Little Star. She tells Sorebi a story about karma, before saying that she knows a lot about her daughter. She narrates Sorebi’s life back to the documentarian, who is shocked.

Aiyi reveals that Sorebi is her and Ernest’s long-lost daughter. The couple had a life together after the war and never stopped searching for their child. Sorebi can’t quite believe it, and despite having kind adoptive parents, she has felt the pain of being unwanted her whole life. Aiyi promises that she and Ernest loved and missed their daughter every minute that they were apart.