Daughter of Calamity, by Rosalie M. Lin

1932, Shanghai. By day, Jingwen delivers bones for her grandmother, the exclusive surgeon to the most formidable gang in the city. By night, she dances at the Paramount, a lavish cabaret club, competing ruthlessly to charm the wealthy patrons.

When mysterious attackers starts stealing dancers’ faces for the powerful elite, Jingwen fears she could be next. To protect herself and her fellow performers, Jingwen has no choice but to delve deeper into the city’s glittering underworld.

But in this treacherous realm of cutthroat businessmen, silver-limbed gangs and vengeful gods, Jingwen soon learns there are far more dangerous forces at play than she could have ever imagined.

I love books like this: tales of lands I don't know much about, set in periods that I have only seen from a Western point of view. Between World Wars? OK, I have a rough idea of what 'the Orient' is, but that's pretty much entirely based on Hollywood movies.

And then I see that the plot features magic, old gods and literal faces being stolen.

I'm in!

First of all, the title of this book is deceptive, its meaning only becoming clear as the story unfolds. Our protagonist isn't 'calamitous' in terms of physically being clumsy or suchlike; this isn't a comedy. Jingwen is young woman struggling to find her place in Shanghai, a city both modern and ancient. She dances and drinks in lively clubs controlled by silver-handed gangsters, while living with her grandmother who performs impossible surgeries from their attic apartment. She's estranged from her mother and rebels against her family, eager to move into the exciting twentieth-century world she sees passing through the port... while at the same time feeling the pull of her ancestry, of the spirit of the land that is her home. Is it so easy to ignore the local gods? Can money or technology substitute for tradition?

This is a tale of growing up and exploring what it truly means to find your identity. Jingwen and her dancer friends are women in a world controlled by men, but many of the latter are indebted for their power to her own grandmother. Wheels turn within wheels, pieces are moved on a board made up of streets and bars, and what is the strength of one girl? When pushed to her limit: quite formidable.

The book doesn't balk from societal unpleasantness either. English and American businessmen are shown for what they are: charming and greedy, patronising and nodding back to colonialism. The anger bubbling under the surface of polite society is tangible, and Jiangwen's own perceived powerlessness is a huge source of frustration for her - but that powers her drive to win. If there is a game being played, she wants to come out on top.

This was a fast read that I didn't want to end. I do hope that the author explores more of this world, which is as enticing as its hallucinogenic liquor. Sultry and powerful as the hand of a goddess.