Night Angels(103)

I’m indebted to my dear friend Andrea Peskind Katz, the founder of Great Thoughts’ Great Readers, once again, for brainstorming and informing me of Dr. Ho Fengshan’s story. Thank you for your suggestions and support along the way.

Thank you to “the” Mike Leibling, the wise man across the pond, for many delightful talks, counseling, and the proposal of the angel in a previous title.

Thank you to Cathie Ghorbani and Helen Lui for your warm embrace and generosity, and my deep gratitude to the diligent librarians for supplying me with all the books I requested. Among them, the memoir by Irena Wiley, last checked out in 1967! Imagine my thrill!

Boundless thanks to Timothy Hummel, for researching tirelessly the information on Dr. Ho Fengshan’s family. And to Andrea Abrams, for your enthusiasm, for your steadfast support, and for introducing me to Mr. Hummel.

Many, many thanks to Maria Totniou for examining the German passages in this novel.

I’m extremely grateful to my writer friends, the gracious souls who have lifted me on my publishing journey: Dianna Rostad, Kate Quinn, Kathryn Craft, Carrie Callaghan, Pam Jenoff, Patti Callahan Henry, Kristin Harmel, Lisa Barr, Chanel Cleeton, Sally Koslow, Erica Rubock, Diana Giovinazzo Tierney; my new friends in Boston: Kimberly Hansle-Lowrance, Anjali Mitter Duva, Yelena Lembersky, Helen Fremont, Kerri Maher, Crystal King, and Jessie Chen; and all of my Tall Poppy Writer friends.

My heartfelt thanks also go to the intelligent, loving women whom I’ve met since the publication of my first novel: Susan Blumberg-Kason, Jocelyn Eikenburg, Sarah Johnson, and Cathie Coyne. Thank you for your support and friendship.

To my friends and family who have read all my books and will hopefully keep reading my books: Marcy, Judy, Lisa, Sue, and Gail. To my family in China: yet again, you’ll need to wait for the Chinese translation.

To Rabbi Geoffery Dennis at the CKA, for your meticulous reading and support. To my friends and neighbors who have read my books and recommended them to their friends and family, thank you.

To you, reader. Thank you for reading this novel!





FURTHER READING

This is a pandemic book. I’m indebted to the following authors, whose memoirs, research, and scholarship helped me visualize Vienna and walk through the painful period of history.

Around the Globe in Twenty Years, by Irena Wiley, illustrated with drawings by the author Broken Threads: The Destruction of the Jewish Fashion Industry in Germany and Austria, edited by Roberta S. Kremer Diplomat Rescuers and the Story of Feng Shan Ho, produced by the Vancouver Holocaust Education Center in partnership with Visas for Life: The Righteous Diplomats and Manli Ho Eichmann Before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer, by Bettina Stangneth Holocaust and Human Behavior, published by Facing History and Ourselves

My Forty Years as a Diplomat, by Feng-Shan Ho, translated and edited by Dr. Monto Ho The Four-Front War: The Most Daring Rescue Operation of the Century, by William R. Perl The Green Bottle: The True Story of One Family’s Journey from War-Torn Austria to the Ghettos of Shanghai, by Vivian Jeanette Kaplan Night Games: And Other Stories and Novellas, by Arthur Schnitzler, translated by Margret Schaefer Schindler’s List, by Thomas Keneally

The Tobacconist, by Robert Seethaler, translated by Charlotte Collins

We Shall Not Forget! Memories of the Holocaust, edited by Carole Garbuny Vogel The World Must Know: The History of the Holocaust as Told in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, by Michael Berenbaum The World of Yesterday, by Stefan Zweig, translated by Anthea Bell

(Forty Years of a Diplomatic Career), by Dr. Ho Fengshan, published in Chinese





ABOUT THE AUTHOR



Weina Dai Randel is the award-winning author of The Last Rose of Shanghai as well as The Moon in the Palace and The Empress of Bright Moon, a historical duology about Wu Zetian, China’s only female emperor. Weina is the winner of the RWA RITA Award, a National Jewish Book Award finalist, a Goodreads Choice Award semifinalist, and an RT Reviewers’ Choice Award nominee. Her books have been translated into twelve languages and sold worldwide. Born in China, Weina came to the United States at twenty-four. She holds an MA in English from Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas. Interviews with Weina have appeared on WFAA’s Good Morning Texas and in such publications as China Daily, World Literature Today, the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, and Los Angeles Review of Books. After living in Texas for years, Weina now resides in Boston with her loving husband, two children, and a family of chipmunks in the backyard. For information, visit www.weinarandel.com.