The Phoenix Crown: A Novel: A Historical Mystery Set in San Francisco and Paris

The Phoenix Crown is a thrilling narrative about two wronged women spanning from the chaos of the San Francisco earthquake to the glittering palaces of Versailles.

This captivating story follows Gemma, a golden-haired soprano, and Suling, a resolute Chinatown embroideress, as they navigate their lives and fortunes in the orbit of charming railroad magnate Henry Thornton.

When a devastating earthquake rips San Francisco apart and Thornton disappears, leaving behind a mystery reaching further than anyone could have imagined, Gemma and Suling find themselves on one last desperate quest for justice.

With an irresistible proposition for a gifted operatic soprano, this book weaves together the double lives of a talented young Chinese woman and her artist lover, a tenacious female botanist, and the legendary crown of an Empress in a seamless, page-turning masterpiece of history and suspense shot through with women rising up from the ashes.