The Phoenix Crown: The brand new thrilling and gripping historical novel from the internationally bestselling authors

An unforgettable story about the intertwined lives of two wronged women | spanning from the chaos of the San Francisco earthquake to the glittering palaces of Versailles…San Francisco | 1906. In a city bustling with newly minted millionaires and scheming upstarts | two very different women hope to change their fortunes: Gemma | a golden-haired | silver-voiced soprano whose career desperately needs rekindling | and Suling | a petite and resolute Chinatown embroideress who is determined to escape an arranged marriage.Their paths cross when they are drawn into the orbit of Henry Thornton | a charming railroad magnate whose extraordinary collection of Chinese antiques includes the fabled Phoenix Crown | a legendary relic of Beijing’s fallen Summer Palace.His patronage offers Gemma and Suling the chance of a lifetime | but their lives are thrown into turmoil when a devastating earthquake rips San Francisco apart and Thornton disappears | leaving behind a mystery reaching further than anyone could have imagined . . .Until the Phoenix Crown reappears five years later at a sumptuous Paris costume ball | drawing Gemma and Suling together in one last desperate quest for justice . . .Praise for The Phoenix Crown:‘Impeccably researched | magnificently rendered | and breathlessly paced’ JAMIE FORD‘Seamless | page-turning masterpiece of history and suspense – shot through with women rising up from the margins of society to claim their own singular futures | I could not put this triumphant novel down’ MARIE BENEDICT‘Heart-pounding | gasp-out-loud storytelling – The Phoenix Crown is the best book I’ve read all year’ VICTORIA CHRISTOPHER MURRAY'Lushly detailed | richly imagined | and utterly satisfying | The Phoenix Crown will entrance readers' BOOKLIST'Action-packed | this novel skillfully uses its strong female leads to examine racism | sexism | and classism. Readers won't want to put this one down' HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY'[A] seamless collaboration of two terrific novelists' THE WASHINGTON POST