The Phoenix Crown including cage birds Marcel Proust and Evelyn Waugh

Marcel Proust and Evelyn Waugh

Sir Peter is having a party at his grand mansion on the river Thames the day before the wedding

‘By far the best book on the Vietnam War’ Gerald Degroot

laced with subterfuge

‘Had me gripped right from the beginning’

The Phoenix Crown including cage birds Marcel Proust and Evelyn WaughSan 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